, 


GIFT   OF 
MARY  JVCKSCH 


MAJOR  JOHN  PITCAIRN. 

BY   WHOSK   ORDER   THE  OPENING   VOLLEY   OF  THE  AMERICAN 
REVOLUTION   WAS    FIRED. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775, 

IN 

LEXINGTON,    CONCORD, 

LINCOLN, 

ARLINGTON,    CAMBRIDGE, 
SOMERVILLE  AND  CHARLESTOWN, 

MASSACHUSETTS. 


BY 

FRANK   WARREN    COBURN. 


LEXINGTON,   MASS.,  U.  S.  A., 

PUBLISHED     BY    THE    AUTHOR, 

1912. 


.07 


COPYRIGHT, 

1912. 
FRANK   WARREN  COBURN. 


F.   L.  COBURN  &  CO.,  PRINTERS,  BOSTON,  MASS.,  U.  S.  A. 


DEDICATION. 

TO   MY   SON  : 

CHARLES   LYMAN    COBURN, 

A  NATIVE  OF  LEXINGTON, 


257712 


PREFACE. 


There  have  been  many  histories  of  the  Battle 
of  Lexington  and  of  the  Battle  of  Concord,  some 
of  them  excellent  to  the  extent  of  that  part  ot 
the  contest  to  which  they  were  devoted.  From 
time  to  time  gifted  orators  have  gone  to  the  one 
town  or  to  the  other,  and  eloquently  portrayed 
the  heroic  deeds  of  men  within  that  town  on  the 
opening  day  of  the  American  Revolution.  No 
fault  should  be  found  with  any  of  those,  designed 
as  a  healthy  stimulus  to  local  pride,  and  to 
foster  sentiments  of  national  patriotism. 

But  the  student  in  American  local  history 
needs  a  more  extensive  view  of  the  operations  of 
that  day.  He  needs  to  be  better  informed  as  to 
the  various  scenes  of  carnage  that  were  waged 
along  all  of  those  nearly  twenty  miles  of  high 
way.  Men  were  slain  in  Lexington,  and  in 
Concord;  but  there  were  many  others  slain  in 
Lincoln,  in  Arlington,  in  Cambridge,  and  in 
Somerville.  Nor  should  we  forget  the  youngest 
martyr  of  the  day,  but  fourteen  years  of  age, 
who  fell  in  Charlestown. 

For  the  purpose,  then,  of  presenting  to  such 
as  may  be  interested,  I  have  assembled  here  the 
most  comprehensive  account  that  has  ever  been 


VI  PREFACE 

offered,  and  one  that  aims  to  be  a  history  of  the 
entire  day.  I  have  endeavored  to  make  it  not 
only  complete  and  interesting,  but  just  and 
reliable,  recognizing  fully  the  rights  of  my  own 
ancestors  to  rebel,  and  also  recognizing  the 
rights  of  the  mother  country  to  prevent  such 
rebellion  —  even  by  an  appeal  to  arms.  Since 
those  days  we  have  grown  to  be  a  mother 
country  ourselves,  and  have  had  reason,  on  more 
than  one  occasion,  to  exercise  that  accepted 
right  of  parental  control. 

This  narrative  is  based  upon  official  reports, 
sworn  statements,  diaries,  letters,  and  narratives 
of  participants  and  witnesses;  upon  accounts  of 
local  historians  and  national  orators;  and,  in  a 
few  cases,  upon  tradition,  if  such  seemed 
authentic  and  trustworthy. 

But  I  am  sorry  to  say,  that  in  more  than  one 
instance,  I  have  found  even  the  sworn  state 
ments  at  variance  with  each  other.  I  am  satis 
fied  that  the  authors  did  not  intend  to  mislead 
in  any  way,  but  simply  tried  to  tell  to  others 
what  appeared  to  them.  Their  mental  excite 
ment  naturally  added  a  little  of  that  vivid 
coloring  noticeable  in  most  war  narratives  of  a 
personal  nature.  My  work  has  been  to  har 
monize  and  simplify  these,  and  to  extract  simply 
the  truth. 

In  1775  the  greater  part  of  the  present  town  of 
Arlington  was  a  part  of  Cambridge,  and  known 


PREFACE.  VII 

as  the  Menotomy  Precinct.  Later  it  was  incor 
porated  as  a  separate  town  and  called  West  Cam 
bridge.  Later  still  its  name  was  changed  to 
Arlington.  Somerville,  in  that  year,  was  a  part  of 
Charlestown.  What  remained  of  Charlestown 
eventually  became  a  part  of  Boston,  though 
still  retaining  its  ancient  name.  In  writing  of  the 
events  that  happened  within  the  boundaries  of 
each,  I  shall  speak  of  them  as  of  Arlington,  of 
Somerville,  and  of  Charlestown. 

I  am  glad  to  add  that  the  bitterness  and 
hatred,  so  much  in  evidence  on  that  long-ago 
battle  day,  no  longer  exist  between  the  children 
of  the  great  British  Nation. 

FRANK  WARREN  COBWRN. 

Lexington  Mass.,  April  19,  1912. 


CONTENTS. 

AUTHORITIES          ...  xn 

IN  PARLIAMENT      ....  1 

THE  PROVINCIAL  CONGRESS  ...  5 

BRITISH  FORCES  IN  BOSTON  ...  13 

THE  BRITISH  START  FOR  LEXINGTON  AND 

CONCORD 19 

THE  MESSENGERS  OF  ALARM  .  .  20 
FLIGHT  OF  HANCOCK  AND  ADAMS  .  30 
ALARMS  IN  OTHER  PLACES  ...  32 

LIEUT.-COL.  SMITH'S  ADVANCE  THROUGH 

CAMBRIDGE 47 

LIEUT. -COL.  SMITH'S  ADVANCE  THROUGH 

SOMERVILLE     .  48 

LIEUT. -CoL.  SMITH'S  ADVANCE  THROUGH 

CAMBRIDGE      ....  50 

LIEUT.-COL.  SMITH'S  ADVANCE  THROUGH 

ARLINGTON 51 

LIEUT. -CoL.  SMITH'S  ADVANCE  THROUGH 

LEXINGTON 57 

THE  OPENING  BATTLE  ON  LEXINGTON 

COMMON 58 

LIEUT. -CoL.  SMITH'S  ADVANCE  THROUGH 

LINCOLN 72 

LIEUT. -CoL.  SMITH'S  ADVANCE  INTO  CON 
CORD        73 

BATTLE  AT  NORTH  BRIDGE  IN  CONCORD        78 

LIEUT. -CoL.  SMITH'S  RETREAT  THROUGH 

CONCORD  95 


X  CONTENTS. 

LIEUT. -CoL.  SMITH'S  RETREAT  THROUGH 

LINCOLN 99 

LIEUT. -CoL.  SMITH'S  RETREAT  TO  LEXING 
TON  VILLAGE  •  •        105 

EARL  PERCY  MARCHES  TO  REINFORCE 

LIEUT. -CoL.  SMITH          .        .         .         114 

PERCY'S  RETREAT  THROUGH  ARLINGTON  130 

PERCY'S  RETREAT  THROUGH  CAMBRIDGE  145 

PERCY'S  RETREAT  THROUGH  SOMERVILLE  150 

PERCY'S  ARRIVAL  IN  CHARLESTOWN      .  154 

AMERICANS  KILLED,  WOUNDED  AND 

MISSING 157 

BRITISH  KILLED,  WOUNDED,  PRISONERS 

AND  MISSING 159 

DISTANCES  MARCHED  BY  THE  BRITISH 

SOLDIERS  •         161 

ENGLISH  FRIENDS  AFTER  THE  BATTLE  162 

INDEX      •  165 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 
MAJOR  JOHN  PITCAIRN        .         .         facing  title 

Copied  from  a  rare  miniature  in  the  possession  of  the  I^exington 
Historical  Society,  and  published  in  this  work  by  their  permission. 

THE  DOOLITTLE  PICTURES. 

PLATE  I.     THE  BATTLE  OF  LEXINGTON,  APRIL 
19TH,  1775    .         .         .  facing  page  58 

PLATE  II.    A  VIEW  OF  THE  TOWN  OF  CONCORD, 

facing  page  73 

PLATE  III.    THE  ENGAGEMENT  AT  THE  NORTH 
BRIDGE  IN  CONCORD        .          facing  pace  78 


ILLUSTRATIONS.  XI 

PLATE  IV.    A  VIEW  OF  THE   SOUTH   PART  OF 
LEXINGTON      .        .        .       facing  page  122 

The  Amos  Doolittle  Pictures  of  Lexington  and  Concord,  copper' 
plate  engravings,  size  about  12x18  inches,  and  hand-colored,  were 
originally  published  by  James  Lockwood  in  New  Haven,  December 
13, 1775.  The  drawings  were  made  by  Mr.  Earl,  a  portrait  painter, 
and  the  engravings  therefrom  were  by  Amos  Doolittle.  Both  were 
members  of  the  Governor's  Guard,  and  came  on  to  Cambridge  as 
volunteers  under  Benedict  Arnold  immediately  after  the  battle  of 
April  19th,  and  soon  after  commenced  these  early  specimens  of 
American  art.  The  student  of  today  prizes  them,  not  for  their 
artistic  excellence,  but  for  their  faithfulness  in  depicting  the  scenery, 
buildings,  and  troops  engaged. 

In  the  Book  Buyer  for  January,  1898,  is  an  illustrated  article 
on  Early  American  Copperplate  Engraving,  by  William  Loring 
Andrews.  I  am  indebted  to  him,  and  to  the  publishers,  Charles 
Scribners'  Sons,  for  permission  to  copy  the  Doolittle  set  for  this  work. 

HUGH  EARL  PERCY       .         .        facing  page  114 

From  a  contemporary  copperplate  engraving  published  by  John 
Fielding.  London,  1785. 

GENERAL  WILLIAM  HEATH,          facing  page  154 

From  a  portrait  in  Harper's  Magazine,  October,  1883,  and  copied 
for  publication  in  this  work  by  permission  of  Harper  &  Brothers. 


MAPS. 
BOSTON  AND  VICINITY  IN  1775-6,  facing  page  19 

Copied  from  part  of  the  map  to  illustrate  the  Siege  of  Boston  in 
Marshall's  Life  of  Washington,  and  dated  1806.  I  have  made  slight 
additions  to  indicate  Smith's  and  Percy's  movements. 

LEXINGTON  COMMON  AND  VICINITY,        page  59 
CONCORD  VILLAGE  AND  VICINITY,  page  79 

BATTLE   ROAD   THROUGH   CONCORD  AND  LIN 
COLN         page  100 

BATTLE  ROAD  THROUGH  ARLINGTON  AND  CAM 
BRIDGE     page  131 

BATTLE  ROAD  THROUGH  SOMERVILLE  AND 

CHARLESTOWN          .         .         .         page  151 


AUTHORITIES. 

Individuals,  Societies,  and  Historical  Works  of  Value  to  Me 
in  the  Preparation  of  this  Work. 

Adams,  Josiah.     Address  at  Acton,  July  21,  1835. 

Adams,  Josiah.  Letter  to  Lemuel  Shattuck,  in  Vindica 
tion  of  the  Claims  of  Capt.  Isaac  Davis. 

Allen.  Joseph  and  Lucy  Clark  Allen,  Memorial  of,  by 
their  Children. 

Almanack.  George's  Cambridge,  or  the  Essex  Calendar 
for  1776. 

Almanack.     Nathaniel  Low,  1775. 

Almanack.     North  American,  1775.     By  Samuel  Stearns. 

Almanack.  North  American,  1776.  By  Samuel  Stearns. 
Containing  Rev.  Wm.  Gordon's  Account  of  the  Battle. 

Austin,  James  T.     Life  of  Elbridge  Gerry. 

Bacon,  Edwin  M.     Historical  Pilgrimages  in  New  England. 

Bancroft,  George.     History  of  the  United  States. 

Barber,  John  Warner.  Historical  Collections  of  Massa 
chusetts. 

Barber,  John  W.     History  and  Antiquities  of  New  Haven. 

Barrett,  Capt.  Amos.  Concord  and  Lexington  Battle,  in 
Journal  and  Letters  of  Rev.  Henry  True. 

Barry,  William.     History  of  Framingham. 

Bartlett,  George  B.     Concord  Guide  Book. 

Bartlett,  S.  R.     Concord  Fight. 

Bolton,  Charles  Knowles.  Brookline,  the  History  of  a 
Favored  Town. 

Bolton,  Charles  Knowles.     Letters  of  Hugh  Earl  Percy. 

Bond,  Henry,  M.D.  Genealogies  of  the  Families  of 
Watertown. 

Boston.  Celebration  of  the  Centennial  Anniversary  of 
the  Evacuation  of,  by  the  British  Army. 

Booth,  E.  C.     Article  in  Somerville  Journal,  April,  1875. 

Boutwell,  George  S.     Oration  at  Acton,  Oct.  29,  1851. 

British  Officer  in  Boston  in  1775,  in  Atlantic  Monthly, 
April,  1877. 

Brooks,  Charles,  and  James  M.  Usher.  History  of 
Medford. 

Brown,  Abram  English.     Beneath  Old  Roof  Trees. 

Brown,  Abram  English.     History  of  Bedford. 

Brown,  Charles,  of  East  Lexington. 


AUTHORITIES.  XIII 

Cambridge  of  1776.     Edited  for  the  Ladies'  Centennial 

Committee,  by  A.  G. 
Clarke,    Jonas.     Pastor    of    the    Church    in    Lexington.. 

Opening  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution.     Appended 

to  a  Sermon  Preached  by  Him,  April  19,  1776. 
Cleaveland,  Colonel,  of  the  Artillery.     Historical  Record 

of  the  52nd  Regiment. 
Concord  Celebration  of  the  Two  Hundred  and  Fiftieth, 

Anniversary  of  the  Incorporation,  Sept.  12,  1885. 
Concord  Fight,  Souvenir  of  the  120th  Anniversary  of. 
Converse,  Parker  Lindall.     Legends  of  Woburn. 
Curtis,  George  William.     Oration  on  the  One  Hundredth 

Anniversary  of  the  Fight  at  Concord. 
Cutter,  Ben.  and  William  R.     History  of  Arlington. 
Dana,    Richard    H.     Oration    on    the    One    Hundredth 

Anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Lexington. 
Dawson,  Henry  B.     Battles  of  the  United  States. 
De  Bernicre's  Report  of  the  Battle. 
Depositions  of  Eye-witnesses  and  Participants. 
Drake,  Francis  S.     The  Town  of  Roxbury. 
Drake,  Samuel  Adams.     Historic  Fields  and  Mansions  of 

Middlesex. 

Drake,  Samuel  Adams.     History  of  Middlesex  County. 
Drake,  Samuel  Adams.     Old  Landmarks  and  Historical" 

Personages  of  Boston. 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo.     Historical  Discourse,  Concord, 

Sept.  12,  1835.     Containing  Diary  of  Rev.  William 

Emerson   (eye-witness),  April  19,  1775. 
Everett,  Edward.     Oration  at  Concord,  April  19,  1825. 
Everett,  Edward.     Address  at  Lexington,  April  19    (20),. 

1835. 

Everett,  Edward.     Mount  Vernon  Papers. 
Farmer,  John.     Historical  Memoir  of  Billerica. 
'Frothingham,  Richard.     History  of  the  Siege  of  Boston. 
Frothingham,    Richard.     Rise    of    the    Republic    of    the 

United  States. 

Gage.     Gen.  Thomas.     Report  of  the  Battle. 
Gettemy,  Charles  Ferris.     True  Story  of  Paul  Revere's 

Ride,  in  the  New  England  Magazine,  April,  1902. 
Gordon,  William,  D.D.     History  of  the  United  States. 
Goss,  Elbridge  Henry.     Life  of  Col.  Paul  Revere. 
Graham,  James.     History  of  the   United  States. 
Great  Britain,  War  Office  of,  for  Gen.  Gage's  Report. 
Green,  Samuel  Abbott.     Groton  During  the  Revolution. 
Hale,    Edward     E.,    in    Winsor's    Memorial    History    of 

Boston. 


XIV  AUTHORITIES. 

Hamlin,    Rev.    Cyrus.     My    Grandfather,    Col.    Francis 

Faulkner. 

Hanson,  J.  W.     History  of  Danvers. 
Harper's  Popular  Cyclopaedia  of  U.  S.  History. 
Haven,  Samuel  F.     Historical  Address,  Dedham,  Sept.  21, 

1836. 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel.     Mosses  From  an  Old  Manse. 
Hazen,  Rev.  Henry  A.     History  of  Billerica. 
Heath,  Major-General.     Memoirs  of.     Written  by  Him 
self. 
Historical  Records  of  the  British  Army.     The  Fourth  or 

King's  Own  Regiment  of  Foot. 
Holland,  Henry  W.     William  Dawes  and  His  Ride  with 

Paul  Revere. 
Houghton,    H.    M.     Plans   Locating   Graves    of   British 

Soldiers. 

Hudson,  Alfred  Sereno.     History  of  Sudbury. 
Hudson,  Charles.     History  of  Lexington. 
Hudson,  Charles.     History  of  Marlborpugh. 
Hudson,    Frederic.     Concord    Fight    in     Harper's    New 

Monthly  Magazine,  May,  1875. 
Hunnewell,    James    F.     A    Century    of    Town    Life.     A 

History  of  Charlestown. 

Hurd,  D.  Hamilton.     History  of  Essex  County. 
Hurd,  D.  Hamilton.     History  of  Middlesex  County. 
Jewett,  C.  F.  &  Co.     History  of  Worcester  County. 
King,  Daniel  P.     Eulogy  at  the  Funeral  of  Gen.  Gideon 

Foster. 

Lannon,  John.     Lexington. 

Lexington,  Handbook  of  its  Points  of  Interest,  1891. 
Lexington,  Historical  Monuments  and  Tablets. 
Lexington  Historical  Society,  Alonzo  E.  Locke,  President, 

and  various  officers  and  attendants. 
Lexington    Historical   Society,    Proceedings   of.     Vol.    I., 

II.,  III.,  IV.      Contributions    by  Edward    P.    Bliss; 

Francis  H.  Brown,  M.D.;  G.  W.  Brown;  Albert  W. 

Bryant;  Elizabeth  Clarke;  Elizabeth  W.  Harrington; 

Herbert  G.  Locke;  James  P.  Munroe;   Elizabeth  W. 

Parker;  G.  W.  Sampson;  A.  Bradford  Smith;  Geo.  O. 

Smith;  and  Rev.  Carlton  A.  Staples. 
Lexington,    History    of    the    Fight    at,    From    the    Best 

Authorities. 
Lexington,  Proceedings  at  the  Centennial  Celebration  of 

the  Battle  of. 

Lewis,  Alonzo.     History  of  Lynn. 
Lincoln,  William.     History  of  Worcester. 


AUTHORITIES.  XV 

Lincoln,  Mass.     Celebration  of  the  150th  Anniversary  of 

Its  Incorporation,  April  23,  1904. 
Local  Loiterings  and  Visits  in  the  Vicinity  of  Boston.     By 

a  Looker-on. 

Lossing,  Benson  J.     History  of  the  United  States. 
McGlenen,  Edward  W.,  Boston. 
McKenzie,   Rev.  Alexander.     Address  at   Dedication  of 

Monument  Over  Cambridge  Killed. 

Mansfield,  Rev.  Isaac,  Chaplain  of  Gen.  Thomas's  Regi 
ment.     Thanksgiving  Sermon  in  Camp  at  Roxbury, 

Nov.  23,  1775. 

Marshall,  John.     Life  of  George  Washington. 
Massachusetts  Archives,  at  State  House,  Boston. 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Collections,   Vols.   II., 

IV.,  V.,  XVIII.,  and  Vol.  IV.,  Second  Series. 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Proceedings,  May,  1876. 
Military  Journals  of  Two  Private  Soldiers,   1758,   1775. 

Lemuel  Lyons,  Samuel  Haws. 

Muzzey,  A.  B.     History  of  the  Battle  of  Lexington. 
Muzzey,  A.  B.     Reminiscences  and  Memorials  of  the  Men 

of  the  Revolution. 
Narrative  of  the  Excursion  and  Ravages  of  the  King's 

Troops.     Worcester,  Printed  by  Isaiah  Thomas,  by 

Order  of  the  Provincial  Congress. 
New  England  Historic  Genealogic<^lJ5ociety. 
Osgood,   Charles  S.  and   H.   M.   ifechelder.     Historical 

Sketch  of  Salem. 

Paige,  Lucius  R.     History  of  Cambridge. 
Parker,  Charles  S.     Town  of  Arlington,  Past  and  Present. 
Parliamentary    History    of    England.     Published    Under 

the  Superintendence  of  T.  C.  Hansard,  Vol.  XVIII. 
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Battle. 

Phinney,  Elias.     History  of  the  Battle  of  Lexington. 
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Reprinted  in  the  Life  of  Revere  by  Goss. 
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Russell,  Edward  J.,  Dorchester. 
Samuels,  E.  A.,  and  H.  H.  Kimball.     Somerville,  Past  and 

Present. 
Sawtelle,  Ithamar  B.     History  of  Townsend. 


XVI  AUTHORITIES. 

Scull,  G.  D.  Memoir  and  Letters  of  Capt.  W.  Glanville 
Evelyn,  of  the  4th  Regiment  (King's  Own). 

Sewall,  Samuel.     History  of  Woburn. 

Shattuck,  Lemuel.  History  of  Concord,  Bedford,  Acton, 
Lincoln  and  Carlisle. 

Sidney,  Margaret.  Old  Concord,  Her  Highways  and 
Byways. 

Simonds,  Eli.  Article  Containing  his  Statement  about 
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Smith,  Samuel  A.  West  Cambridge  on  the  Nineteenth^ 
April,  1775.  An  Address. 

Smith,    S.    F.,    D.D.     History    of    Newton. 

Somerville,  Handbook  of  the  Historic  Festival,  1898. 

Staples,  Rev.  Carlton  A. 

Stearns,  Jonathan  F.,  D.D.  Historical  Discourse,  Bed 
ford  Sesqui-Centennial,  Aug.  27,  1879. 

Stedman,  C.  History  of  the  Origin,  Progress  and  Termi 
nation  of  the  American  War. 

Stephens,  Alexander.     Memoirs  of  John  Home  Tooke. 

Stone,  Edwin  M.     History  of  Beverly. 

Sumner,  William  H.     History  of  East  Boston. 

Swan,  Charles  W.  MSS.  of  Levi  Harrington.  Account 
of  the  Battle,  given  by  him  to  his  son,  Bowen, 
March,  1846.  (Eye-witness  on  Lexington  Common, 
and  then  about  fifteen  years  of  age. ) 

Tenney,  Wallace  Fay. 

Tolman,  George.     Concord  Minute  Man. 

Thornton,  John  Wingate.  Pulpit  of  the  American 
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United  States  Geological  Survey,  Maps  of. 

Watson,  John  Lee.  Paul  Revere's  Signal.  The  True 
Story  of  the  Signal  Lanterns. 

Webber,  C.  H.  and  W.  S.  Nevins.  Old  Naumkeag. 
Historical  Sketch  of  Salem. 

Wellington,  Caroline,  Charles  A.,  Cornelius,  and  Eliza. 

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town. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 
IN  PARLIAMENT. 

The  Treaty  of  Peace  signed  at  Paris,  Feb.  10, 
1763,  terminated  the  prolonged  struggle  between 
England  and  France,  for  supremacy  in  the  New 
World.  For  seven  long  years  it  had  lasted,  and 
its  cost  had  been  treasure  and  bood.  Justly 
proud  were  the  British  Colonies  of  the  martial 
success  of  their  mother  country,  a  goodly 
part  of  which  they  had  valorously  won  them 
selves. 

During  the  war,  and  at  its  close,  England  had 
been  generous  in  remitting  to  the  Colonial  Treas 
uries  large  sums  in  partial  liquidation  of  the  war 
expenses  advanced  by  them;  but  subsequently 
it  was  esteemed  wise,  by  a  majority  of  her  states 
men,  to  gradually  replace  such  sums  in  the 
royal  coffers,  by  a  system  of  colonial  taxation 
very  similar  to  modern  methods  of  raising  war 
revenues.  In  the  abstract  this  fact  was  not 
particularly  disagreeable  to  the  colonists,  for 
the  necessity  was  admitted,  but  the  arbitrary 
method  of  levying  those  taxes  was  bitterly  con 
tested. 

England's  Parliament  claimed  the  right  to  tax 
the  distant  Colonies  even  as  it  taxed  the  neigh 
boring  Boroughs,  and  as  a  commencement  of  its 
financial  plan  enacted  a  Stamp  Act,  so  called, 
to  take  effect  Nov.  1,  1765,  similar  in  intent  and 
working,  to  the  modern  revenue  stamp  of  our 
Government.  These  stamps  were  to  be  pur 
chased  of  the  Crown's  officers  and  affixed  to 


2  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

certain  articles  of  merchandise  and  in  denom 
inations  according  to  a  schedule  of  taxable  value. 

The  opposition  to  this  Act  was  immediate, 
continuous,  and  bitter  in  the  extreme,  and  the 
result  was  that  it  was  repealed  March  18,  1766. 

The  next  move  on  the  part  of  the  Mother 
Country  was  the  passage  of  a  Military  Act 
which  provided  for  the  partial  subsistence  of 
armed  troops  on  the  Colonies.  Violent  opposi 
tion  to  this  was  also  immediate  and  general,  but 
without  avail.  In  Boston  one  result  was  a  con 
flict  between  the  troops  and  the  inhabitants  on 
March  5,  1770,  and  now  referred  to  as  the 
Boston  Massacre. 

In  June,  1767,  another  Act  was  passed,  taxing 
tea  and  other  commodities,  which  was  repealed 
April  12,  1770,  on  all  articles  except  the  tea. 
Large  consignments  were  sent  to  America.  Ships 
thus  laden  that  arrived  in  New  York  were  sent 
back  with  their  full  cargoes.  At  Charleston 
the  tea  was  landed  but  remained  unsold.  At 
Boston,  a  party  disguised  as  Indians  threw  it 
from  the  ship  into  the  sea.*  Parliament  in  con 
sequence  passed  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  March  7, 
1774,  closing  Boston  as  a  commercial  port,  and 
removing  the  Custom  House  to  Salem  in  another 
harbor  a  dozen  miles  or  more  northward  up  the 
coast. 

This  Act  went  into  effect  June  1,  1774,  and 
was  immediately  felt  by  all  classes,  for  all  com 
merce  ceased.  Boston  merchants  became  poor, 
and  Boston  poor  became  beggars.  The  hand  of 
relief,  however,  was  extended,  even  from  beyond 

*  In  a  little  cemetery  at  West  Fairlee,  Vt.f  is  a  memorial  stone 
which  reads  "Wm.  Cox,  died  July  27,  1838,  Aged  88.  He  helped 
steep  the  tea  in  the  Atlantic."  His  name  seems  to  have  been  over 
looked  by  historians,  so  I  mention  it  here. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  3 

the  sea.  The  City  of  London  in  its  corporate 
capacity  subscribed  £30,000*.  In  America  the 
assistance  was  liberal  and  speedy.  George 
Washington  headed  a  subscription  paper  with 
j£50t. 

These  severe  measures  of  Parliament,  with 
their  natural  effect  of  ruin  and  starvation  among 
the  people  of  America,  served  to  stimulate  a 
feeling  of  insubordination,  and  hatred  of  the 
Mother  Country,  from  which  crystalized  the 
First  Continental  Congress  which  assembled  at 
Philadelphia,  Sept.  5,  1774,  soon  followed  by  the 
First  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts 
which  met  at  Salem,  Oct.  7,  of  the  same  year. 

On  the  question  of  Colonial  Government 
Great  Britain  and  her  American  colonies  were 
not  divided  by  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  for  on  the 
American  side  the  Crown  had  its  ardent  sup 
porters,  while  on  the  other  side  friends  of  the 
American  cause  were  almost  as  numerous  as 
were  the  oppressors.  We  have  seen  how  the 
great  City  of  London  contributed  liberally  to 
the  Bostonians,  shut  off  from  the  world  by  the 
Port  Bill,  and  on  the  floor  of  Parliament  many 
gifted  orators  espoused  the  American  cause. 

With  prophetic  eloquence  the  Lord  Mayor, 
Mr.  Wilkes,  exclaimed: 

"This  I  know,  a  successful  resistance  is  a 
revolution,  not  a  rebellion  .  .  .  Who  can  tell, 
sir,  whether  in  consequence  of  this  day's  violent 
and  mad  Address  to  his  Majesty,  the  scabbard 
may  not  be  thrown  away  by  them  as  well  as  by 
us  ?  ...  But  I  hope  the  just  vengeance  of  the 
people  will  overtake  the  authors  of  these  per- 

*  Lossing's  History  of  the  United  States,  page  226. 
f  Frothingham's  Rise  of  the  Republic,  page  326. 


4  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

nicious  councils,  and  the  loss  of  the  first  province 
of  the  empire  be  speedily  followed  by  the  loss  of 
the  heads  of  those  ministers  who  advised  these 
wicked  and  fatal  measures."* 

Lord  Chatham  in  his  motion  to  withdraw  the 
troops  from  Boston,  said : 

"As  an  American  I  would  recognize  to  Eng 
land  her  supreme  right  of  regulating  commerce 
and  navigation:  as  an  Englishman  by  birth  and 
principle  I  recognize  to  the  Americans  their  su 
preme  unalienable  right  in  their  property;  a 
right  in  which  they  are  justified  in  the  defence 
of  to  the  last  extremity. "f 

The  Corporation  of  the  City  of  London  passed 
a  vote  of  thanks  to  Chatham,  and  to  those  who 
supported  him  for  having  offered  to  the  House 
of  Lords  a  plan  to  conciliate  the  differences  with 
America.} 

When  Lord  North's  unfriendly  proposition 
for  conciliating  America  was  introduced,  it 
naturally  found  an  advocate  in  the  loyal  and 
courtly  Gen.  Burgoyne  —  courtly  but  courage 
ous;  loyal  ever  to  his  King  but  not  blind  to  the 
merits  of  the  claims  of  the  Colonists.  While 
modestly  pledging  his  loyalty  to  the  Crown,  he 
could  not  refrain  from  adding: 

"There  is  a  charm  in  the  very  wanderings 
and  dreams  of  liberty  that  disarms  an  English 
man's  anger."** 

In  the  debate  on  the  bill  for  restraining  the 
Trade  and  Commerce  of  the  English  Colonies, 
Lord  Camden  asked :  — 


*  Hansard's  Parliamentary  History,  XVIII,  cols.  238,  240. 
t  Hansard's  Parliamentary  History,   XVIII,  col.  154. 
J  Hansard's  Parliamentary  History,   XVIII,  col.  215. 
**  Hansard's  Parliamentary  History,   XVIII,  col.  355. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  5; 

"What  are  the  10,000  men  you  have  just 
voted  out  to  Boston?  Merely  to  save  General 
Gage  from  the  disgrace  and  destruction  of  being 
sacked  in  his  entrenchments.  It  is  obvious, 
my  Lords,  that  you  cannot  furnish  armies  or 
treasure,  competent  to  the  mighty  purpose  of 
subduing  America.  ...  It  is  impossible  that 
this  petty  island  can  continue  in  dependence 
that  mighty  continent."* 

Continuing,  he  drew  a  picture  of  American 
union  and  American  courage,  that  in  the  end 
would  prevail. 

The  Earl  of  Sandwich  replied :  - 

"Suppose  the  colonists  do  abound  in  men, 
what  does  that  signify?  They  are  raw,  undis 
ciplined,  cowardly  men.  I  wish  instead  of 
40  or  50,000  of  these  brave  fellows,  they  would 
produce  in  the  field  at  least  200,000,  the  more 
the  better,  the  easier  would  be  the  conquest; 
if  they  did  not  run  away,  they  would  starve 
themselves  into  compliance  with  our  measures. "f 

And  the  Bill  was  passed. 

One  has  but  to  read  the  stirring  debates  of 
that  memorable  year  in  Parliament,  over  the 
Petitions  for  Redress  of  Grievances  from  Amer 
ica;  over  the  Petitions  for  Reconciliation  from 
the  Merchants  of  Bristol  and  of  London;  over 
the  Resolutions  offered  by  its  own  members; 
and  over  the  addresses  to  them  by  their  King;  — 
to  realize  that  the  great  question  of  American 
rights  had  almost  as  many,  and  surely  as  elo 
quent  advocates,  there  as  here. 

THE  PROVINCIAL  CONGRESS. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  First  Continental  Co  n_ 


*  Hansard's  Parliamentary  History,   XVIII,  cols.  442,    443. 
t  Hansard's  Parliamentary  History.   XVIII,    col.  446. 


6  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

gress  assembled  at  Philadelphia,  Sept.  5,  1774. 
They  met  in  Carpenter's  Hall.  The  First 
Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts  met  at 
Salem,  Oct.  7,  following.  John  Hancock  was 
chosen  President.  In  its  first  set  of  Resolutions 
it  announced:  ''the  necessity  of  its  most  vigor 
ous  and  immediate  exertions  for  preserving  the 
freedom  and  constitution,"  of  the  Province. 

The  Royal  Governor,  Gen.  Thos.  Gage,  had 
issued  his  writs  the  first  day  of  September,  call 
ing  upon  the  inhabitants  to  return  representa 
tives  to  the  Great  and  General  Court  to  be  con 
vened  at  Salem  on  the  fifth  of  October.  In  the 
meantime,  becoming  alarmed  at  the  tumults 
and  disorders  -  the  extraordinary  resolves 
passed  by  some  of  the  Counties,  the  instruc 
tions  given  by  Boston  and  some  other  towns  to 
their  representatives,  and  the  general  unhappy 
condition  of  the  Province,  he  determined  that 
the  time  was  not  auspicious  for  such  a  gathering, 
and  accordingly  issued  a  proclamation  counter 
manding  the  call.  However,  ninety  representa 
tives  met  on  that  day,  waited  loyally  for  the 
Governor,  and  when  he  failed  to  appear,  ad 
journed  to  the  next  day,  Oct.  6,  and  met  as  a 
Convention,  choosing  John  Hancock,  Chairman. 
Not  much  in  the  way  of  business  was  accom 
plished  on  that  day,  and  they  adjourned  again, 
until  the  next,  Oct.  7th,  when  they  met  and 
declared  themselves  to  be  a  Provincial  Congress 
and  chose  John  Hancock,  Permanent  Chairman. 

Thus  the  First  Provincial  Congress  was, 
strictly  speaking  a  self-constituted  body,  with 
not  even  the  sanction  of  a  popular  vote.  Yet 
they  felt  secure  in  a  popular  support.  They 
could  not  pass  laws,  but  they  could  resolve, 
advise  and  recommend,  and  such  acts  were  gen- 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  7 

erally  heeded  by  a  majority  of  their  fellow 
citizens.* 

The  military  organization  of  the  Province  was 
equally  without  effective  power,  as  they  recog 
nized  no  real  commanding  officer  of  higher  rank 
than  Colonel.  It  is  true  that  the  Congress  had 
nominated  three  general  officers,  but  their  real 
powers  to  command  were  feeble.  The  minute 
men  and  militia  were  enrolled  by  thousands, 
but  they  were  poorly  equipped,  without  uni 
forms,  and  without  discipline.  They  marched 
to  Battle  Road  in  company  formation,  but  upon 
arrival  or  very  soon  after,  manoeuvred  and 
fought  as  individuals  simply. 

The  Second  Provincial  Congress,  more  nearly 
an  elective  body  than  the  First,  realized  their 
own  lack  of  authority  over  the  people  and 
particularly  over  the  military  branch  of  their 
constituents.  They  wrote  to  the  Continental 
Congress  at  Philadelphia,  under  date  of  May  16, 
1775,  stating  that  they  were  compelled  to  raise 
an  army;  of  their  triumph  at  having  one  consist 
ing  of  their  own  countrymen;  but  they  admitted 
a  lack  of  civil  power  to  provide  for,  and  control 
it.  And  they  asked  for  advice  from  the  greater 
congress  which  represented  all  the  Colonies 
as  to  the  taking  up  and  exercising  of  the  neces 
sary  powers  of  a  civil  government.! 

Let  us,  then,  as  we  go  forward  with  this  narra 
tive,  bear  these  facts  in  mind,  that  we  may  not 
in  this  very  first  day  of  a  new  nation's  struggle 

*  See  their  "advice"  to  constables  and  to  tax  collectors  Oct.  14, 
1774,  not  to  pay  moneys  collected  by  them  to  the  royal  treasurer 
of  the  province,  Hon.  Harrison  Gray  (Journals  of  Each  Provincial 
Congress,  page  19)  and  their  "recommendation"  to  towns,  Oct.  28, 
to  direct  their  constables  and  tax  collectors  to  pay  such  moneys  to 
their  appointee  as  Receiver  General,  Henry  Gardner  (Journals  of 
Each  Provincial  Congress,  page  38. ) 

t  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress,  page  230. 


8  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

for  liberty  expect  too  much  from  those  who, 
indeed  had  the  wisdom,  had  the  strength,  had 
the  courage  and  the  skill,  but  greatly  lacked 
the  first  elements  of  a  civil  government  or  a 
military  force  —  discipline  and  efficiency. 

The  First  Provincial  Congress  next  met  in 
Concord,  Oct.  11,  1774.  Hancock  was  chosen 
President,  an  office  higher  than  Permanent 
Chairman.  Several  following  days  were  devoted 
to  public  business.  From  there  they  addressed 
a  communication  to  Gen.  Gage,  wherein  they 
expressed  the  apprehensions  excited  in  their 
minds  by  the  rigorous  execution  of  the  Port  Bill; 
by  the  alteration  of  the  Charter;  by  the  admin 
istration  of  justice  in  the  Colony;  by  the  number 
of  troops  in  the  capital  [Boston] ;  and  particularly 
by  the  formidable  and  hostile  preparations  on 
Boston  Neck.  And  they  asked,  rather  point 
edly,  "whether  an  inattentive  and  unconcerned 
acquiescence  in  such  alarming,  and  menacing 
measures  would  not  evidence  a  state  of  in 
sanity?"  They  entreated  him  to  reduce  the 
fortress  at  the  entrance  to  Boston,  and  concluded 
by  assuring  his  Excellency  that  they  had  not 
the  least  intention  of  doing  any  harm  to  his 
Majesty's  troops.* 

Four  days  later,  Oct.  17,  sitting  at  Cambridge, 
they  received  his  reply.  It  was  altogether  lack 
ing  in  satisfaction.  He  answered  them  as  to  the 
fortification  on  Boston  Neck,  th^at  " unless  an 
noyed,"  it  would  "annoy  nobody."  And  the 
rest  of  his  communication  was  equally  unassur- 
ing. 

Oct.  19,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  in 
quire  into  the  then  present  state  and  operations 

*  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress  of  Mass.,  page  18. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  9 

of  the  British  Army;*  and  on  Oct.  20,  another 
committee  to  report  on  what  was  necessary  to 
be  done  for  the  safety  and  defence  of  the 
Province.f 

Matters  were  crystallizing  very  fast,  for  on 
Oct.  24,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  consider 
and  report  on  the  most  proper  time  for  the 
Province  to  provide  a  stock  of  powder,  ordnance 
and  ordnance  stores.  That  same  afternoon, 
one  of  the  members,  Mr.  Bliss,  was  ordered  to 
wait  upon  the  Committee  to  ascertain  their 
reply.  They  quickly  responded  that  their 
opinion  was  that  "now"  was  the  proper  time  to 
procure  such  a  stock.  J  Another  committee  was 
at  once  appointed  to  take  into  consideration  and 
determine  the  quantity  and  expense  thereof.** 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  following  day, 
Oct.  25,  the  schedule  was  presented  to  the 
Congress  and  one  of  its  items  called  for  1000 
barrels  of  powder,  and  the  proposed  expense 
was  £10,737.  Items  were  added  by  the  Con 
gress  to  increase  the  amount  to  £20,837.  It 
was  likewise  ordered  "that  all  the  matters  which 
shall  come  under  consideration  before  this 
Congress  be  kept  secret. "ff 

Oct.  26,  it  was  resolved  that  a  Committee  of 
Safety  should  be  appointed,  whose  business  it 
should  be  "most  carefully  and  diligently  to 
inspect  and  observe  all  and  every  such  person 
and  persons  as  shall  at  any  time,  attempt  or 
enterprise  the  destruction,  invasion,  detriment 
or  annoyance  of  this  province."  And  they 

*  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress  of  Mass.,  page  22. 
t  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress  of  Mass.,  page  23. 
J  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress  of  Mass.,  page  29. 
**  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress,  page  29. 
ft  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress,  page  30. 


10  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

should  have  the  power  to  alarm,  muster  and 
cause  to  be  assembled  with  the  utmost  expedi 
tion  and  completely  armed  for  the  defence, 
such  of  the  militia  as  they  shall  deem  necessary 
for  its  defence.*  And  it  was  also  resolved  that 
as  the  security  of  the  lives,  liberties  and 
properties  of  these  inhabitants  depend  on  their 
skill  in  the  art  military  and  in  their  being 
properly  and  effectively  armed,  it  was  therefore 
recommended  that  they  immediately  provide 
themselves  therewith,  f 

On  Oct.  27,  Congress  appointed  a  Committee 
of  Safety  consisting  of  nine  members,  three 
from  Boston  and  six  from  the  country,  John 
Hancock,  Chairman,  and  also  a  Commissary,  or 
Committee  of  Supplies,  consisting  of  five  mem 
bers. J  At  a  subsequent  meeting  on  the  same 
day,  Jedidiah  Preble  was  elected  to  be  chief  in 
command  and  Artemas  Ward,  second.** 

Oct.  27  a  vote  was  passed  recommending  that 
the  inhabitants  perfect  themselves  in  the  military 
art. ft  On  that  same  day  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  wait  upon  his  excellency  the 
governor  to  express  their  surprise  at  his  active 
warlike  preparations,  and  to  announce  that  their 
constituents  would  not  expect  them  to  be 
guided  by  his  advice.{J  But  before  the  con 
clusion  of  this  session  another  resolution  was 
passed  to  the  effect  that  the  lives  and  liberties 
of  the  inhabitants  depended  upon  their  knowl 
edge  and  skill  in  the  military  art.*** 

*  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress,  page  32. 
t  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress,  page  34. 
J  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress,  page  35. 
**  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress,  page  35. 
ft  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress,  page  41. 
J  J  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress,  page  45. 
***  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress,  page  48. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  11 

The  First  Provincial  Congress  was  dissolved 
Dec.  10,  1774,  every  session  of  its  deliberations 
having  been  devoted  to  the  Civil  Rights  and 
Liberties  of  the  People  over  which  it  had  pre 
sided. 

The  Second  Provincial  Congress  was  con 
vened  in  Concord  Feb.  1,  1775.  One  of  its 
earliest  acts,  Feb.  9,  was  to  appoint  Hon. 
Jedidiah  Preble,  Hon.  Artemas  Ward,  Col.  Seth 
Pomeroy,  Col.  John  Thomas  and  Col.  William 
Heath,  general  officers.*  The  same  day,  in  an 
address  to  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  they  said,  "Though  we  deprecate  a  rupture 
with  the  Mother  State,  yet  we  must  urge  you  to 
every  preparation  for  your  necessary  defence."! 

Nor  were  the  Indians  neglected  in  these 
strong  appeals  to  the  patriotism  of  the  inhabit 
ants  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  for  under  date 
of  April  1,  1775,  an  address  was  issued  to 
Johoiakin  Mothskin  and  the  rest  of  the  Indians 
of  Stockbridge,  expressing  great  pleasure 
that  they  were  "willing  to  take  up  the  hatchet," 
and  announcing  that  Col.  Paterson  and  Capt. 
Goodridge  should  present  each  that  had  enlisted 
a  blanket  and  a  ribbon.  A  committee  was  also 
appointed  to  address  the  chief  of  the  Mohawks.J 

The  Committee  of  Safety  met  for  the  first 
time  at  the  house  of  Capt.  Stedman,  in  Cam 
bridge,  \Vednesday,  Nov.  2,  1774,  and  organized, 
as  we  have  stated,  with  John  Hancock,  Chair 
man.  John  Pigeon  was  chosen  clerk.  Their 
first  vote  after  organization  was  a  recommenda 
tion  to  the  Committee  of  Supplies  to  procure  as 
soon  as  may  be,  335  barrels  of  pork,  700  barrels 

*  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress,  page  90. 
t  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress,  page  92. 
J  Journals  of  each  Provincial  Congress,  pages  116,  117. 


12  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

of  flour,  20  tierces  of  rice,  300  bushels  of  peas, 
and  that  these  be  distributed  in  Worcester  and 
Concord.  On  Nov.  8,  following,  in  joint  meet 
ing  with  the  Committee  on  Supplies,  the  latter 
was  advised  to  procure  all  of  the  arms  and 
ammunition  possible  from  the  neighboring 
provinces,  and  that  they  might  with  safety 
engage  to  pay  for  the  same  on  arrival. 

At  subsequent  meetings  various  military 
stores  were  liberally  provided.  With  a  unani 
mous  vote  on  Feb.  21,  1775,  by  both  committees 
in  joint  session,  it  was  decided  that  the  Com 
mittee  of  Supplies  should  purchase  all  kinds  of 
military  stores  sufficient  for  an  army  of  15,000 
men.*  It  did  not  then  seem  to  them  as  if  a 
peaceful  solution  of  the  estrangement  were 
longer  possible. 

The  last  meeting  of  the  Provincial  Congress 
before  the  battle,  was  held  in  Concord,  April  15, 
and  when  it  adjourned  it  was  until  May  10. 
But  considering  "the  great  uncertainty  of  the 
present  times,"  it  was  provided,  however,  that  a 
call  might  issue  for  an  earlier  assembling.  Only 
two  days  elapsed  before  apprehensions  of  imme 
diate  danger  arose,  which  grew  so  intense,  that 
Richard  Devens  on  the  18th,  issued  a  summons 
for  immediate  assembling  at  Concord.  Al 
though  it  was  circulated  with  the  greatest  dis 
patch  many  of  the  members  could  not  have 
learned  of  it  before  the  marching  of  the  British 
troops  on  that  same  night  from  Boston  Common. 

The  meeting  was  finally  assembled  on  April  22, 
and  quickly  adjourned  to  Watertown,  evidently 
to  be  in  closer  touch  with  the  thrilling  events 
that  had  so  dramatically  opened.  | 

*  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress,  pages  505,  509. 
t  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress,  pages  146-7. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  13 

BRITISH  FORCES  IN  BOSTON. 

General  Thomas  Gage,  Commander  of  the 
British  forces  in  America,  and  successor  of 
Thomas  Hutchinson  as  Governor  of  Massachu 
setts  Bay,  landed  in  Boston,  May  13,  1774. 
Inspired  by  a  hope  that  his  administration 
might  soften  the  feeling  of  resentment  against 
the  Mother  Country,  by  annulling  some  of  its 
causes,  his  reception  on  the  17th  was  dignified 
and  cordial.  He  was  greeted  with  cheers  by 
the  multitude,  the  firing  of  salutes  in  his  honor, 
and  a  lavish  banquet  in  Faneuil  Hall.*  A  few 
weeks  before  he  had  assured  his  king  that  the 
Americans  "will  be  lions  while  we  are  lambs; 
but  if  we  take  the  resolute  part  they  will  prove 
very  weak."f 

His  military  force  then  in  Boston  was  less 
than  4,000  men,J  and  consisted  of  the  Fourth 
or  King's  Own;  Fifth;  Tenth;  Seventeenth: 
3  Companies  of  the  Eighteenth ;  Twenty-second  ; 
Twenty-third;  Thirty-eighth;  Forty-third; 
Forty-fourth;  Forty-seventh;  Fifty-second; 
Fifty-ninth;  Sixty-third;  Sixty-fourth  ;  six 
or  eight  Companies  of  Artillery ;  and  six  or  eight 
Companies  of  Marines,  numbering  460,  under 
Major  Pitcairn.** 

*  Frothingham's  Rise  of  the  Republic  of  the  U.  S.,  page  330. 

t  Frothingham's  Rise  of  the  Republic  of  the  U.  S.,  page  318. 

J  Hale  in  Memorial  History  of  Boston,  III,  79. 

**  This  list  I  make  up  from  a  document  from  among  the  Swett 
papers,  and  an  article  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  April,  1877,  entitled 
A  British  Officer  in  Boston  in  1775.  The  Swett  MSS.  is  interesting 
as  giving  the  distinctive  uniforms  as  follows: 

Fourth  or  King's  Own,  red  faced  with  white;  5th,  Lord  Percy, 
red  faced  with  blue;  10th,  red  faced  with  green;  17th,  Light  Dra 
goons,  red  faced  with  yellow;  22d,  Gen.  Gage,  red  faced  with  white; 
23d,  Gen.  Howe,  red  faced  with  blue;  38th,  Gen.  Piget,  red  faced 
with  yellow;  43rd,  red  faced  with  light  buff;  44th,  red  faced  with 
yellow;  52d,  red  faced  with  white;  59th,  called  the  Pompadours, 
red  faced  with  crimson;  63d,  red  faced  with  yellow;  64th,  red  faced 
with  black;  artillery,  blue  faced  with  red;  Marines?,  red  faced  with 
white. 

Some  of  these  were  encamped  on  the  Common. 


14  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

Major  Gen.  Heath  is  the  authority  for  the 
statement  that  the  Provincial  Congress  ap 
pointed  a  committee  to  make  inquiry  into  the 
state  of  operation  of  the  British  Army  in  Boston, 
and  on  the  20th  of  March,  they  reported  that 
there  were  about  2,850  men  distributed  as 
follows:  Boston  Common,  about  1,700;  Fort 
Hill,  400;  Boston  Neck,  340;  in  Barracks  at  the 
Castle,  about  330;  King  Street,  80;  that  they 
were  erecting  works  at  Boston  Neck  on  both 
sides  of  the  way,  well  constructed  and  well 
executed.  The  works  wrere  in  forwardness  and 
mounted  with  ten  brass  and  two  iron  cannon. 
The  old  fortification  at  the  entrance  of  the 
town  was  replaced  and  rendered  much  stronger 
by  the  addition  of  timber  and  earth  to  the 
parapet,  and  ten  pieces  of  iron  cannon  were 
mounted  on  the  old  platform.  A  block  house 
had  been  brought  from  Governor's  Island  and 
was  being  erected  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Neck.* 

But  a  short  time  was  required  to  show  that 
in  every  political  question  Gen.  Gage  was  loyal 
to  his  king.  Accordingly  throughout  the  Prov 
ince  the  press,  the  pulpit,  the  expression  of 
opinion  in  public  meetings,  while  professing 
loyalty  to  the  king  personally,  were  extremely 
bitter  against  his  representative  in  command. 

Conventions  were  held  in  the  various  Counties 
of  the  Province,  the  earliest  one  being  in  Berk 
shire  County,  July  6,  1774,  followed  by  the  one 
in  Worcester  County,  Aug.  9.  Resolutions 
were  passed  at  each,  professing  loyalty  to  the 
king,  but  remonstrating  strongly  against  Parlia 
ment.  It  was  left  for  the  Middlesex  County 

*  Heath's  Memoirs,  written  by  himself.     Boston,  1798.     Page  11. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  15 

Convention,  August  30,  to  pass  resolutions  that 
rang  throughout  the  Province.  While  also 
professing  loyalty  to  the  King  their  final  sen 
tence  was: 

"No  danger  shall  affright,  no  difficulties  in 
timidate  us;  and  if  in  support  of  our  rights  we 
are  called  to  encounter  even  death,  we  are  yet 
undaunted,  sensible  that  he  can  never  die  too 
soon,  who  lays  down  his  life  in  support  of  the 
laws  and  liberty  of  his  country." 

These  resolutions  were  passed  by  a  vote  of 
146  yeas  against  4  nays.* 

Although  the  town  of  Boston  itself  was  the 
headquarters  of  Gen.  Gage,  and  his  soldiers 
were  parading  in  its  streets,  and  encamping  on 
its  Common,  the  patriots  had  by  no  means 
deserted  it.  There  were  several  secret  societies 
who  made  it  their  business  to  watch  for  and 
report  hostile  movements  and  plans.  These 
were  the  "North  End  Caucus;"  the  "South  End 
Caucus;"  the  "Middle  District  Caucus;"  and 
the  "Long  Room  Club;"  all  of  which  owned 
allegiance  to  the  "Sons  of  Liberty,"  a  body 
which  acted  in  the  capacity  of  a  higher  council 
and  which  kept  itself  in  close  communication 
with  similar  organizations  outside  of  this  Prov 
ince.  Members  of  these  various  bodies  paraded 
the  streets  nightly,  that  any  sudden  or  unusual 
movement  of  the  army  might  be  at  once  re 
ported.  Paul  Revere  belonged  to  one  or  more 
of  these,  and  was  active  in  patriotic  work. 

Nor  was  Gen.  Gage  idle  in  acquiring  informa 
tion  about  the  Provincial  Army  being  assembled, 
and  the  topographical  features  of  the  country 
around  Boston.  His  troops  were  especially 


*  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress  of  Mass.,  page  114. 


16  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

trained  by  marches,  over  the  highways  in  the 
vicinity,*  and  his  spies  brought  him  maps  and 
reports  from  the  scenes  of  his  possible  future 
operations.  The  two  that  acted  for  him  in  this 
secret  service  were  Capt.  Brown  of  the  52nd 
regiment,  and  Ensign  D'Bernicre  of  the  10th 
regiment.  They  were  disguised  in  "brown 
clothes"  with  "reddish  handkerchiefs"  tied 
about  their  necks,  and  were  accompanied  by 
a  servant.  All  three  were  well  armed. 

Gen.  Gage's  instructions  to  them,  under  date 
of  Feb.  22,  1775,  called  for  description  of  the 
roads,  rivers,  and  hills;  available  places  for  en 
campments;  whether  or  not  the  churches  and 
church  yards  were  advantageous  spots  to  take 
post  in  and  capable  of  being  made  defensible. 
They  were  also  told  that  information  would  be 
useful  in  reference  to  the  provisions,  forage,  etc., 
that  could  be  obtained  at  the  several  places  they 
should  pass  through. 

Their  first  trip  was  to  Worcester,  in  the 
latter  part  of  February,  and  their  next  one  to 
Concord,  for  which  place  they  set  out  on 
March  20,  passing  through  Roxbury,  Brookline, 
and  Weston,  where  they  stopped  at  the  Jones 
Tavern. 

Then  they  proceeded  through  Sudbury, 
crossed  over  the  South  Bridge  into  Concord 
village,  where  they  were  entertained  by  a  Mr. 
Bliss,  a  friend  of  the  royal  government. 

Wherever  they  went  their  mission  was  kno\vn 
in  spite  of  their  disguises.  They  succeeded, 

*  Rev.  Mr.  Gordon,  of  Roxbury,  wrote  a  very  interesting  account 
of  the  commencement  of  hostilities  which  was  published  in  the 
North  American  Almanack  for  1776.  He  speaks  of  one  of  their 
practice  marches,  on  March  30,  when  about  100  men  marched  to 
Jamaica  Plain,  by  way  of  Dorchester  and  back  to  Boston,  about 
five  miles.  On  this  particular  march  the  soldiers  amused  themselves 
by  pushing  over  stone  walls 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  17 

however,  in  bringing  back  to  Gen.  Gage  a  very 
tolerable  description  of  the  country,  and  so  ful 
filled  their  mission.  In  Concord,  especially, 
they  located  many  of  the  provincial  military 
stores,  information  particularly  useful  to  the 
invading  force  on  April  19th. 

Having  thus  possessed  himself  of  sufficient 
data,  Gen.  Gage  then  laid  his  plans  for  a  mid 
night  march  to  Lexington  and  Concord  with 
the  view,  possibly,  of  capturing  Hancock  and 
Adams,  who  were  known  to  be  at  the  former 
place,  and  especially  of  destroying  all  the  war 
like  supplies  that  had  been  gathered  at  Concord. 

April  15,  the  grenadiers  and  light  infantry 
had  been  relieved  from  duty,  with  the  excuse 
that  they  were  to  learn  a  new  exercise.  That 
night,  about  twelve  o'clock,  boats  belonging  to 
the  transports  which  had  been  hauled  up  for 
repairs  were  launched  and  moored  under  the 
sterns  of  the  men-o-war.*  The  Somerset  was 
anchored  near  the  Charlestown  Ferry,  f  These 
movements  awakened  the  suspicions  of  Dr. 
Warren,  who  lost  no  time  in  notifying  Hancock 
and  Adams,  then  at  Lexington.  On  the  after 
noon  of  April  18th,  he  learned  from  several 
sources  that  the  British  were  about  to  move. 
A  gunsmith  named  Jasper,  learned  as  much 
from  a  British  sergeant  and  lost  no  time  in 
informing  Col.  Waters  of  the  Committee  of 
Safety,  who  in  turn  gave  the  news  to  Warren.  J 
John  Ballard,  connected  with  the  stable  in 
Milk  Street,  overheard  some  one  in  the  Province 
House  remark  that  there  would  "be  hell  to  pay 
tomorrow;"  a  remark  so  full  of  significance 

*  Frothingham's  Siege  of  Boston,  page  56. 
t  Holland,  pages  7,  8. 
j  Holland,  page  9. 


18  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

that  he  reported  it  to  a  friend  of  liberty  in  Ann 
Street,  thought  to  have  been  William  Dawes, 
who  in  turn  reported  it  to  Paul  Revere.* 

That  night  Gen.  Gage  despatched  ten  or  more 
sergeants,  partially  disguised,  along  the  high 
ways  in  Cambridge  and  beyond,  towards 
Concord.  They  were  instructed  to  intercept 
any  passers-by,  and  so  prevent  his  intended 
movement  from  becoming  known.  A  party  of 
his  officers  dined  at  Wetherby's  Tavernf  in 
Menotomy  (now  Arlington),  where  also  met 
that  day  the  Committee  of  Safety  and  Com 
mittee  of  Supplies,  some  of  whom,  Mr.  Gerry, 
Col.  Orne  and  Col.  Lee,  remained  to  pass  the 
night.f 

Solomon  Brown  of  Lexington,  a  young  man 
nineteen  years  old,  was  the  first  to  report  in  that 
town  the  unusual  occurrence  of  so  many  officers 
along  the  highways  in  the  night,  and  it  was  sur 
mised  there  that  the  capture  of  Hancock  and 
Adams  was  intended.  Brown  was  returning 
home  from  Boston  when  they  passed  him  on 
the  road.  Somehow  gaining  the  front  again 
he  rode  rapidly  into  Lexington  village  and 
reported  what  he  had  seen.  Sergeant  Munroe 
and  eight  men  were  sent  to  guard  the  parsonage 
where  the  patriot  statesmen  were  stopping,  and 
Solomon  Brown,  Jonathan  Loring,  and  Elijah 
Sanderson,  all  members  of  Captain  Parker's 
Company  of  Minute  Men,  were  despatched  to 
watch  the  officers  after  they  had  passed  through 
Lexington  toward  Concord.  They  followed 
them  on  horseback  into  Lincoln,  about  two 


*  Holland,  page  9. 

t  Known  also  as  the  Black  Horse  Tavern. 

t  Frothingham,  page  10. 


BOSTON  AND  VICINITY,  1775-6. 

1 x    L,ieut.  Col.  Smith's  starting  place. 

2 x    His  landing  place  in  Cambridge. 

3,  3,  3.    Earl  Percy's  route  from  Boston  to  Cambridge. 
Top  of  map  is  north. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  19 

and  a  half  miles  from  Lexington  village,  where 
they  were  ambushed  by  the  ones  they  were 
following,  and  taken  prisoners.  It  was  then 
about  10  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  April  18th. 
They  were  detained  until  Revere  was  also 
captured  at  the  same  place  a  few  hours  later, 
early  in  the  morning  of  the  19th. 

THE  BRITISH  START  FOR  LEXINGTON 
AND  CONCORD. 

The  grenadiers  and  light  infantry  under  com 
mand  of  Lieut.  Col.  Francis  Smith,  of  the  10th 
Regiment,  augmented  by  a  detachment  of 
Marines  under  Major  John  Pitcairn,  assembled 
at  the  foot  of  Boston  Common,  on  the  evening 
of  April  18th,  and  at  about  half-past  ten  o'clock 
embarked  for  Lechmere  Point,  or,  as  it  was  often 
called  at  that  time,  Phip's  Farm,  in  East  Cam 
bridge.  They  numbered  about  eight  hundred 
men.* 

The  "Foot  of  the  Common,"  was  not  far  from 
the  present  corner  of  Boylston  and  Charles 
Streets,  and  just  there  was  the  shore  line  of  the 
Back  Bay,  a  large  body  of  water  opening  out 
into  the  Charles  River.  Since  then  the  Bay  has 
been  filled  in  and  is  now  an  attractive  residential 
district  bearing  still  its  ancient  aquatic  name 
however. 

The  transportation  was  by  means  of  the  row 
boats  connected  with  the  British  men-of-war 
and  transports,  and  was  thus  necessarily  slow, 
and  undoubtedly  required  several  trips.  It 
seems  probable  that  their  course  was  westerly 
a  little  way,  along  the  present  Boylston  Street, 


*  Frothingham's  Siege  of  Boston. 


20  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

then  northerly  along  the  present  Arlington 
Street,  into  the  Charles  River  and  across  to 
Lechmere  Point,  a  distance  of  about  a  mile  and 
a  quarter. 

They  landed  in  the  marshes  nearly  opposite 
the  Court  House  on  Second  Street,  for  East 
Cambridge  also  was  much  smaller  then  than 
now.  The  water  was  too  shallow  to  allow  the 
heavily  loaded  boats  to  reach  dry  land,  so 
the  troops  waded  knee  deep  to  the  shore.  There 
they  were  halted  in  a  "dirty  road,"  as  one  of  the 
British  officers  present  termed  it,*  and  detained 
still  longer,  that  each  might  receive  a  day's 
rations  and  thirty-six  rounds  of  ammunition. 

THE  MESSENGERS  OF  ALARM. 

The  invading  army  safely  across  the  Charles 
River  was  now  really  on  its  way,  but  with  all  its 
precautions  for  secrecy,  its  coming  was  even  at 
that  moment  being  heralded  in  every  direction. 
The  ever-vigilant  Sons  of  Liberty  had  noticed 
the  unusual  movements  of  the  troops  after  dark, 
and  so  informed  Dr.  Warren.  He  quickly 
summoned  William  Dawes  and  Paul  Revere. 
Dawes  arriving  first  was  the  first  to  start,  and 
his  route  to  Lexington  was  through  Roxbury. 
So  to  him  belongs  the  credit  of  being  the  first 
messenger  out  of  Boston  bearing  the  alarm  of 
the  British  invasion.  Paul  Revere  came  soon 
after  and  was  carried  over  the  Charles  River 
considerably  farther  down  than  the  British 
soldiers  were  crossing,  and  landed  in  Charles- 
town.  His  route  to  Lexington  was  much 
shorter  than  the  one  through  Roxbury. 

*  Diary  of  a  British  Officer  in  Boston  in  1775. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  21 

Dr.  Warren  had  arranged  with  these  two 
men  for  this  especial  work,  and  so  they  were 
ready.  Dawes  had  left  home  that  afternoon, 
not  even  confiding  to  his  wife  his  intention.  Im 
mediately  after  the  embarkation  he  was  ready 
and  on  his  way.  He  managed  to  elude  the 
guard  at  Boston  Neck  by  passing  out  with 
some  soldiers.  His  ride  was  then  through 
Roxbury,  Brookline,  Brighton,  over  the  Charles- 
River  there  by  bridge  into  Cambridge,  at 
Harvard  Square,  and  thence  directly  on  to 
Lexington.  So  much  longer  was  his  route  than 
Revere's,  that  he  did  not  reach  there  until  half 
an  hour  later  than  Revere  did,  and  then  found 
that  Hancock  and  Adams  had  been  alarmed. 
The  work  of  William  Dawes  was  efficient  over 
the  route  he  traveled.  In  Lexington,  Revere 
waited  for  Dawes,  and  from  there  onwards 
toward  Concord  they  traveled  together.  It  is 
to  be  regretted  that  a  more  detailed  account  of 
the  ride  of  William  Dawes  cannot  be  given. 
But  momentary  flashes  of  light  reveal  his 
course  and  his  work.  Revere  left  a  narrative  of 
his  ride,  and  historians  have  fallen  into  the  error 
of  supposing  him  to  be  the  only  messenger  with 
the  warlike  tidings.  As  we  progress  with  this 
narrative  we  shall  surmise  that  William  Dawes 
and  Paul  Revere  were  but  two  out  of  many,  for 
the  exciting  news  radiated  in  every  direction, 
and  could  only  have  been  borne  by  riders 
equally  as  patriotic  and  fleet  as  those  two. 

The  previous  Sunday  evening  Paul  Revere 
had  been  out  to  Lexington,  for  a  conference 
with  Hancock  and  Adams,  and  on  his  return 
that  same  night  to  Charles  town  he  had  agreed 
with  Col.  Conant  and  some  others  to  display 


22  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

lanterns  in  the  North  Church  steeple,  if  the 
troops  should  march;  one  lantern  if  they  went 
by  land,  which  meant  out  over  Boston  Neck, 
through  Roxbury,  Brookline,  and  Brighton,  into 
Harvard  Square,  Cambridge  ;  and  two,  if  they 
crossed  the  Charles  River  in  boats  and  landed 
at  Lechmere  Point  in  East  Cambridge.  This 
arrangement  was  made  because  it  was  surmised 
that  no  messenger  would  be  allowed  to  leave 
Boston  with  the  news  while  the  troops  were 
leaving. 

When  Revere  left  Warren  his  first  duty  was 
to  call  upon  Capt.  John  Pulling,  Jr.,*  and 
arrange  for  the  signal  lanterns.  Then  he  went 
to  his  home  in  North  Square  for  his  boots  and 
surtout,  and  from  there  to  where  his  boat  was 
moored  beneath  a  cob-wharf,  near  the  present 
Craigie  Bridge,  in  the  north  part  of  the  town. 
Two  friends  accompanied  him,  Joshua  Bentley 
and  Thomas  Richardson,  f 

Their  point  of  starting  was  not  far  from  the 
then  Charlestown  Ferry,  the  boats  of  which 
were  drawn  up  nightly  at  nine  o'clock.  Out  in 
the  Charles  River  was  anchored  the  Somerset,  a 
British  man-of-war.  It  was  young  flood,  and 
the  moon  was  rising.  J  Fearing  that  the  noise 
of  the  oars  in  the  oar-locks  might  alarm  the 
sentry,  Revere  despatched  one  of  his  compan 
ions  for  something  to  muffle  them  with,  who 
soon  returned  with  a  petticoat,  yet  warm  from 
the  body  of  a  fair  daughter  of  Liberty  who  was 


*  Boston  Sunday  Globe,  Apr.  19,  1908.  Article  on  Lanterns  Hung 
in  the  Steeple. 

t  Goss,  E.  H.,  Life  of  Paul  Revere. 

J  Full  moon  April  15.  Moon  rose  on  April  18,  at  9.45  P.  M. 
Low's  Almanack  for  1775. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  23 

glad  to  contribute  to  the  cause.*  Rowing  out 
into  the  river  and  passing  to  the  eastward  of 
the  Somerset  they  looked  back  and  there  shining 
from  the  tall  steeple  of  Christ  Church,  the  Old 
North,  were  two  signal  lanterns. 

Far  up  into  the  valleys  of  the  Mystic  and  the 
Charles,  those  twinkling  rays  gleamed,  and 
their  meaning  picked  up  wherever  it  fell,  was 
carried  still  farther  to  the  remoter  hamlets  and 
villages  beyond  the  hills. 

When  Capt.  Pulling  left  Paul  Revere  he 
proceeded  at  once  to  the  home  of  the  sexton  of 
Christ  Church,  Robert  Newman,  who  lived  on 
Salem  St.,  opposite  Bennett  St.  Pulling  was 
vestryman  of  the  church  and  when  he  demanded 
the  keys  of  Newman  they  were  handed  to  him 
without  question.  Pulling  proceeded  to  the 
church,  climbed  the  belfry  stairs,  hung  two 
lighted  lanterns  out  of  the  highest  little  window, 
forty-two  feet  above  the  sidewalk,f  descended 
and  made  his  exit  through  a  window,  and  so 
escaped  unnoticed. 

These  lanterns  were  seen  by  all  who  looked, 
and  quickly  British  soliders  sought  out  the 
sexton  and  placed  him  under  arrest.  His 
denial  of  any  knowledge  as  to  who  displayed 
the  lanterns  was  believed,  and  he  was  released. 
Pulling,  disguised  as  a  sailor,  escaped  from 
Boston  in  a  fishing  vessel,  landed  in  Nantucket, 
and  did  not  return  until  after  the  siege.  J 

*  She  was  an  ancestor  of  John  R.  Adan,  and  lived  in  the  Ochter- 
long-Adan  house  at  the  corner  of  North  and  North  Centre  Streets. 
Goss,  Life  of  Paul  Revere. 

t  Goss,  Life  of  Paul  Revere. 

%  Capt.  John  Pulling,  Jr.,  was  son  of  John  and  Martha  Pulling. 
Born  in  Boston,  Feb.  18,  1737.  Resided  on  corner  of  Ann  and 
Cross  Streets  in  1775.  Died  in  1787.  Goss,  Life  of  Paul  Revere.  • 


24  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

Revere  and  his  two  companions  reached  the 
Charlestown  shore  in  safety.  Their  landing 
place  was  near  the  old  battery  at  Gage's 
Wharf,  not  far  from  No.  85  of  the  present 
Water  St.,  near  City  Square.  They  were  met 
by  Col.  Conant  and  several  others,  who  re 
ported  that  the  lanterns  had  been  seen  and 
interpreted.  While  Revere  was  waiting  for 
his  horse,  which  was  furnished  by  Deacon 
Larkin,  Richard  Devens,  one  of  the  Committee 
of  Safety,  came  and  told  Revere  that  as  he 
came  down  the  road  from  Lexington  after 
sundown  that  evening,  he  met  ten  British 
officers,  all  well  mounted  and  armed,  going  up 
the  road. 

It  was  about  11  o'clock  when  Revere  started 
from  the  Charlestown  shore  on  his  mission  to 
alarm.  He  had  intended  to  proceed  over 
Charlestown  Neck,  through  Somerville  to  Cam 
bridge  and  thence  to  Lexington.  Just  such  a 
ride  as  his  had  been  anticipated,  for  he  had 
gone  but  a  short  distance  along  the  Cambridge 
road  beyond  Charlestown  Neck,  when  he  per 
ceived  two  mounted  British  officers  halted  under 
the  shadows  of  a  tree  in  a  narrow  part  of  the 
road.*  Near  by  was  the  gibbet  where  Mark, 
the  negro  slave,  executed  in  1755  for  poisoning 
his  master,  hung  in  chains  for  about  fifteen 
years. 

Revere  wheeled  his  horse  and  made  his 
escape,  retreating  along  the  road  to  the  Neck, 
then  turning  into  the  Mystic  road,  which  runs 
over  Winter  Hill  into  Medford.f  There  he 
awakened  the  Captain  of  the  Minute  Men, 

*  In  Somerville  on  Washington  Street,  near  Crescent  Street, 
t  Now  Broadway  and  Main  Street,  in  Somerville,  and  Main  Street 
in  Medford. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  25 

Isaac  Hall,  and  alarmed  almost  if  not  every 
house  on  the  way  to  Lexington.  His  road  was 
through  West  Medford  to  Arlington  Centre, 
there  turning  at  the  Cooper  Tavern  north 
westerly  towards  Lexington.  He  reached  the 
parsonage  in  Lexington  at  midnight,  which 
then  stood  on  the  westerly  side  of  the  Bedford 
Road  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  beyond  the 
Common.*  Within  were  sleeping  John  Han 
cock  and  Samuel  Adams.  Keeping  guard  out 
side  were  eight  men  under  Sergeant  William 
Munroe,  who  cautioned  Revere  not  to  make 
too  much  noise,  lest  he  should  awaken  the 
family,  who  had  just  retired. 

"Noise,"  exclaimed  Revere,  "You'll  have 
noise  enough  before  long.  The  regulars  are 
coming  out." 

But  he  had  already  alarmed  the  inmates, 
for  the  window  was  raised,  and  the  parson, 
Mr.  Clarke,  inquired  \vho  was  there.  Revere, 
without  answering  the  question,  said  he  wished 
to  see  Mr.  Hancock. 

"Come  in,  Revere,"  exclaimed  Hancock, 
who  also  had  been  awakened,  "we  are  not  afraid 
of  you." 

Half  an  hour  later  Dawes  rode  up  from  his 
longer  ride  from  Boston.*  They  partook  of 
refreshments  and  together  set  out  for  Concord. 
Not  far  beyond  Lexington  Common  they  were 
overtaken  by  a  young  man,  Dr.  Samuel  Pres- 
cott,  whose  home  was  in  Concord.  That 
evening  he  had  been  visiting  the  young  lady 
to  whom  he  was  engaged  to  be  married,  Miss 

*  Bedford  Road  is  now  called  Hancock  Street  and  a  newer  road 
to  Bedford  is  called  Bedford  Street.  The  old  parsonage  is  still 
standing,  though  moved  from  its  original  location  to  a  few  rods 
across  the  street. 

f  Revere's  ride  was  12||  miles  and  Dawes's  ride  was  16SI  miles. 


26  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

Mulliken  of  Lexington.  Revere  spoke  of  the 
ten  officers  that  Devens  had  met,  and  of  the 
probability  that  they  would  attempt  to  stop 
them  before  they  should  reach  Concord.  It 
was  planned  to  alarm  every  house  on  the  way. 
Dr.  Prescott  volunteered  to  remain  with  the 
two  riders,  as  his  acquaintance  with  the  people 
along  the  road  might  be  needed  to  vouch  for  the 
genuineness  of  the  message. 

His  company  was  accepted  and  very  welcome. 
They  rode  along,  alarming  each  household,  a 
little  over  two  and  a  half  miles  from  Lexington 
Common.  Dawes  and  Prescott  had  stopped  at  a 
house  to  arouse  the  inmates,  and  Revere  was 
about  a  hundred  rods  ahead,  when  he  saw 
two  men  in  the  highway.  He  called  loudly  for 
Dawes  and  Prescott  to  come  up,  thinking  to 
capture  them,  but  just  then  two  more  appeared, 
coming  through  the  bars  from  a  pasture  on  the 
right,  or  northerly  side  of  the  road,  where  they 
had  been  standing  in  the  shadow  of  a  tree. 
They  proved  to  be  officers  of  the  British  Army. 
Dawes  wheeled  his  horse  back  towards  Lexington 
and  escaped.  Prescott  and  Revere  attempted 
to  ride  towards  Concord,  but  were  intercepted 
and  ordered  to  move  through  the  bars  into  the 
pasture  or  have  their  brains  blown  out.  They 
preferred  to  do  as  ordered,  but  when  a  little 
way  inside,  Prescott  said  to  Revere,  "put  on," 
and  immediately  jumped  his  horse  over  the 
stone  wall  at  his  left  and  disappeared  down  the 
farm  road  leading  into  a  ravine  where  rise  the 
headwaters  of  the  Shawsheen  River.  He  knew 
the  location  well,  and  easily  followed  the  road 
through  the  thicket  until  it  comes  out  on  the 
Concord  road  again,  a  half  mile  or  so  beyond. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  27 

Revere,  not  so  well  acquainted  with  the  location, 
headed  towards  the  dense  woods  on  the  lower 
edge  of  the  pasture,  thinking  to  dismount 
within  their  shadows  and  escape  on  foot.  Six 
more  British  officers  were  in  hiding  there,  and 
they  easily  seized  his  horse's  bridle  and  with 
pistols  levelled  at  his  breast  ordered  him  to 
dismount. 

And  so  there  in  Lincoln,  about  two  and  one- 
half  miles  beyond  Lexington,  ended  the  mid 
night  rides  of  William  Dawres  and  Paul  Revere. 
Prescott  had  gone  on  to  continue  the  alarm, 
Dawes  had  retreated  towards  Lexington,  and 
Revere  was  a  prisoner.  While  the  latter  was 
being  secured,  three  or  four  of  the  officers 
started  up  the  road  in  pursuit  of  Dawes,  who 
galloped  his  horse  furiously  up  to  a  farm  house, 
where  he  reined  in  so  suddenly  that  he  was 
thrown  to  the  ground.  \Vith  great  presence  of 
mind  he  shouted  loudly  for  assistance,  exclaim 
ing:— 

"Hallo,    my    boys.     I've   got    two    of    'em." 

The  British  in  pursuit  supposing  they  were 
ambushed  in  turn,  retreated  and  made  good 
their  escape.  Dawes  rose  from  the  ground  and 
found  himself  quite  alone,  for  the  house,  which 
might  have  contained  a  force  of  American 
minute  men,  was  empty  and  deserted.  He 
mounted  his  horse  and  rode  leisurely  away.* 

But  Revere  was  not  the  only  prisoner  cap 
tured  by  the  British  officers  in  Lincoln.  Solo- 


*  Unfortunately  no  poet  has  ever  thought  the  ride  of  William 
Dawes  a  sufficiently  thrilling  one  for  a  place  in  poetic  literature. 
When  he  left  the  farm  house  he  rode  into  obscurity.  For  the 
incidents  in  Lincoln  that  he  took  part  in,  I  am  indebted  to 
his  granddaughter,  Mrs.  Mehitable  May  Goddard,  as  narrated  in 
Henry  W.  Holland's  book,  William  Dawes  and  his  Ride  Witlv 
Paul  Revere.  & 


28  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

mon  Brown,  Jonathan  Loring,  and  Elijah 
Sanderson,  all  of  Lexington,  had  been  passing 
along  at  that  place  about  ten  o'clock,  the  pre 
vious  evening  (for  it  is  now  after  midnight, 
April  19th),  and  were  detained  and  being  held 
as  prisoners  when  Revere  was  added.  A  one- 
handed  peddler,  Allen  by  name,  was  also  a 
prisoner,  having  been  captured  after  Brown 
and  his  two  companions.  For  some  reason  he 
was  not  long  delayed,  but  released,  and  went 
his  way. 

Revere  was  ordered  to  dismount  and  one 
of  the  six  proceeded  to  examine  him,  asking  his 
name;  if  he  was  an  express;  and  what  time  he 
left  Boston.  He  answered  each  question  truth 
fully,  and  added  that  the  troops  in  passing  the 
river  had  got  aground;  that  he  had  alarmed  the 
country  on  the  way  up;  and  that  500  Americans 
would  soon  be  present.  This  was  rather  dis 
turbing  news  for  his  captors,  and  the  one  who 
had  acted  as  spokesman  rode  to  the  four  who 
had  first  halted  the  messengers.  After  a  short 
conference  the  five  returned  on  a  gallop,  and 
one  of  them,  whom  Revere  afterwards  found  to 
be  Major  Mitchell  of  the  Fifth  Regiment, 
clapped  a  pistol  to  his  head,  and,  calling  him  by 
name,  said  he  should  ask  him  some  questions, 
and  if  they  were  not  answered  truthfully,  he 
should  blow  his  brains  out.  Revere  answered 
the  many  questions,  some  of  them  new  ones 
and  some  the  same  as  he  had  already  answered. 
He  was  then  directed  to  mount,  and  the  whole 
party  proceeded  towards  Lexington.  After 
riding  about  a  mile  Major  Mitchell  instructed 
the  officer  leading  Revere's  horse  to  turn  him 
over  to  the  Sergeant  who  was  instructed  to 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  29 

blow  the  prisoner's  brains  out,  if  he  attempted 
to  escape,  or  if  any  insults  were  offered  to  his 
captors  on  the  way. 

When  within  half  a  mile  of  Lexington  meeting 
house,  on  the  Common,  they  heard  a  gun  fired, 
and  Major  Mitchell,  beginning  to  feel  alarmed, 
asked  Revere  its  cause,  who  told  him  it  was  an 
alarm.  The  other  prisoners  were  then  ordered 
to  dismount,  one  of  the  officers  cut  the  bridles 
of  their  horses  and  drove  them  away.  Revere 
asked  to  be  discharged,  also,  but  his  request  was 
not  heeded. 

Coming  a  little  nearer  to  the  meeting-house, 
within  sight  of  it,  in  fact,  they  heard  a  volley 
of  gun  shots,  whereupon  Major  Mitchell  called 
a  halt,  and  questioned  Revere  again,  as  to 
the  distance  to  Cambridge,  and  if  there  were 
two  roads  going  there,  etc.  He  then  ordered 
him  to  dismount  and  exchange  horses  with  the 
Sergeant,  who  cut  away  bridle  and  saddle  from 
his  own,  which  was  a  small  one  and  well  nigh 
exhausted,  before  completing  the  exchange.* 

The  officers  then  hastily  disappeared  down 
the  road  towards  Lexington  meeting-house,  and 
Revere  made  his  way,  probably  afoot,  across 
the  old  cemetery  and  the  adjacent  pasture  near 
Lexington  Common,  to  the  parsonage  on 
Bedford  Road,  where  he  had  left  Hancock  and 
Adams  a  few  hours  earlier. 

The  entire  distance  that  Revere  rode,  from 
the  Charlestown  shore  to  the  spot  in  Lincoln 
where  he  was  captured,  and  back  to  Lexington 


*  Tradition  says  that  Deacon  Larkin's  horse  died  from  the  effects 
of  the  strenuous  ride  of  Revere,  but  it  is  probable  that  his  second 
rider  may  have  been  equally  or  more  of  a  contributory  cause,  as 
Revere's  ride  was  not  long  and  fast  enough  to  kill  a  horse  in  sound 
Condition. 


30  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

Common,  was   between    18  and    19  miles,  and 
the  elapsed  time  nearly  four  hours. 


FLIGHT  OF  HANCOCK  AND  ADAMS. 

The  narration  of  Revere's  adventures  was 
eagerly  listened  to  by  the  patriots  assembled  at 
the  parsonage.  Hancock  and  Adams  were 
urged  to  flee  by  their  friends.  Hancock  was 
loth  to  do  so,  but  Adams  persuaded  him  that 
their  duties  were  executive  rather  than  military, 
so  they  prepared  for  a  hasty  retreat.  Their 
flight  commenced  in  a  chaise  driven  by  Jonas 
Clarke,  son  of  the  minister.*  Mr.  Lowell, 
Hancock's  secretary,  and  Paul  Revere,  accom 
panied  them  for  two  miles  into  Burlington, 
where  they  stopped,  first  at  the  house  of  Mr. 
Reed  for  a  little  time,  and  then  continued 
farther  on  to  the  home  of  Madame  Jones, 
widow  of  Rev.  Thomas  Jones  and  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Marrett.  Then  they  sent  back  to  the  parsonage 
for  Hancock's  betrothed,  Dorothy  Quincy,  his 
aunt,  Mrs.  Hancock,  and  lastly,  a  "fine  salmon," 
which  had  been  presented  to  them  for  dinner, 
and  naturally  forgotten  as  they  started  on  their 
flight.  All  of  these  arrived  in  due  time,  and 
then  Revere  and  Lowell  returned  to  Lexington 
Common,  with  the  intention  of  rescuing  a 
trunk  and  its  contents  which  belonged  to 
Hancock,  and  which  he  had  left  at  the  Buckman 
Tavern. 

The  fugitives  were  about  to  sit  down  to  the 
salmon  dinner  when  a  Lexington  farmer,  in  great 
excitement,  rushed  in  exclaiming,  that  the 
British  were  coming,  and  that  his  wife  was  even 

*  Holland. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  31 

then  in  "eternity."  The  salmon  dinner  was 
abandoned,  and  the  flight  continued  under  the 
guidance  of  Mr.  Marrett,  to  Amos  Wyman's, 
where  they  finally  sat  down  to  a  dinner,  not  of 
salmon,  but  of  cold  salt  pork  and  potatoes 
served  on  a  wooden  tray.  The  last  stopping 
place  was  just  over  the  boundary  line  of  Woburn 
into  Billerica,  easterly  from  the  present  Lowell 
Turnpike,  and  northerly  from  the  Lexington 
parsonage  about  four  miles. 

Samuel  Adams  had  left  behind  him  some 
where  on  the  road  his  immortal  saying:  — 

"What  a  glorious  morning  for  America  is 
this."* 

Revere  and  Lowell  reached  Buckman  Tavern, 
and  there  learned  from  a  man  who  had  just 
come  up  the  road  that  the  troops  were  within 
two  miles.  They  proceeded  to  a  chamber  for 
the  trunk,  which  they  secured,  and  looking  out 
of  the  window  towards  Boston,  saw  the  King's 
soldiers  but  a  little  way  off.  They  quickly 
made  their  exit  from  the  Tavern,  passed  along 
the  Common  through  Captain  Parker's  Com 
pany,  or  rather  a  small  part  of  it,  and  heard  his 
words :  — 

"Let  the  troops  pass  by  and  don't  molest 
them  without  they  begin  first. "f 

*  It  has  sometimes  been  written  that  Hancock  and  Adams  first 
went  to  a  little  wooded  hill  southeasterly  from  the  parsonage 
overlooking  Lexington  Common,  and  perhaps  half  a  mile  away, 
and  where  they  remained  concealed  until  after  the  British  had 
passed,  and  that  Adams,  looking  down  upon  that  first  scene  of 
bloodshed  expressed  himself  as  above  quoted.  But  I  cannot  recon 
cile  that  statement  with  Revere's  own  version  of  the  flight  wherein 
he  speaks  of  going  with  them  two  miles  and  then  returning  for 
Hancock's  trunk  at  the  Buckman  Tavern,  and  which  he  succeeded 
in  getting  just  before  the  British  arrived  there  at  five  o'clock. 
Thus  Adams  could  not  have  witnessed  the  opening  scene  on  Lex 
ington  Common. 

t  Revere's  Narrative.  Otherwise  quoted  as  "Don't  fire  unless 
fired  upon,  but  if  they  want  war,  let  it  begin  here."  Lexington 
Hist.  Soc.  I,  46. 


32  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

When  a  little  farther  along,  "not  half  gun 
shot  off"  as  Revere  expresses  it,  he  heard  a 
single  gun,  turned  and  saw  the  smoke  of  it 
rising  just  in  front  of  the  troops,  heard  them 
give  a  great  shout,  saw  them  run  a  few  paces, 
heard  irregular  firing  as  of  an  advance  guard, 
and  then  firing  by  platoons. 

The  American  Revolution  had  indeed  com 
menced. 


ALARMS  IN  OTHER  PLACES. 

It  must  not  be  imagined  that  information  of 
the  night  march  of  the  troops  was  known  only 
along  the  highway  to  their  destination  in 
Concord.  There  were  fleet  messengers  in  every 
direction,  through  the  Counties  of  Middlesex 
and  Essex  and  Norfolk.  Those  lanterns  in  the 
North  Church  steeple  meant  as  much  to  many 
others  as  to  those  on  the  Charlestown  shore. 
But  few  details  of  their  rides  have  been  left  to 
us.  Yet  everywhere  the  hoof-beats,  the  shad 
owy  form  of  the  horseman  —  his  cry  of  alarm, 
the  drums  —  the  bells  —  the  guns  —  the  as 
sembling  of  the  minute  men, —  their  hurried 
march  towards  that  one  long  and  thin  highway 
from  Boston  to  Concord  ;  some  of  these  are 
known,  and  can  be  written  of,  as  a  part  of  the 
record  of  that  day. 

Northerly  along  the  coast  the  alarm  went. 
At  Lynn,  ten  miles  away,  the  inhabitants  were 
awakened  in  the  early  morn  of  the  19th,  by  the 
information  that  800  British  soldiers  had  left 
Boston  in  the  night  and  were  proceeding  to 
wards  Concord.  Many  immediately  set  out  for 
the  scene  of  the  invasion,  singly  and  in  little 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  ;33 

bands,  without  waiting  to  march  in  company 
file.* 

At  Woburn,  ten  miles  from  Boston,  a  man 
rode  up  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Douglass,  about  an 
hour  before  sunrise  —  and  knocked  loudly  at 
the  door,  saying: 

"There  is  an  alarm  —  the  British  are  com 
ing  out;  and  if  there  is  any  soldier  in  the  house 
he  must  turn  out  and  repair  to  Lexington  as 
soon  as  possible. "f 

Such  is  the  s\vorn  statement  of  Robert 
Douglass,  who  lived  in  Portland,  Maine,  but 
who  was  then  staying  at  his  father's  home  in 
Woburn.  He  arose  and  started  for  Lexington, 
four  miles  away,  with  Sylvanus  Wood.  And 
Douglass,  upon  arrival,  paraded  with  Capt. 
Parker's  Company.  Col.  Loammi  Baldwin 
resided  in  Woburn,  and  entered  in  his  diary 
some  of  his  experiences  of  the  day.  Under  date 
of  April  19,  he  says  that  in  the  morning  a  little 
before  the  break  of  day,  they  were  alarmed  by 
Mr.  Stedman's  express  from  Cambridge.  With 
others  he  hurried  to  Lexington,  but  could  not 
reach  the  Common  in  time  to  participate  in  the 
opening  struggle.  They  saw  the  stains  of 
blood  on  the  ground,  hurried  on  to  Lincoln,  and 
at  Tanner's  Brook  commenced  to  harass  the 
British  on  their  return.} 

In  Reading,  twelve  miles  from  Boston,  alarm 
guns  were  fired,  just  at  sunrise.  Edmund  Foster 
in  a  letter  to  Col.  Daniel  Shattuck,  of  .Concord, 
dated  March  10,  1825,  speaks  at  length  of  his 
personal  experiences.  Following  the  guns  came 

*  Lewis  and  Newhall's  History  of  Lynn,  page  338. 

t  Deposition  of  Robert  Douglass. 

J  Beneath  Old  Roof  Trees.     A.  E.  Brown. 


34  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

a  post,  bringing  the  information  that  the 
Regulars  had  gone  to  Concord. 

In  Danvers,  sixteen  miles  away,  news  of  the 
British  advance  was  given  at  about  9  o'clock, 
and  was  communicated  to  the  citizens  by  bells 
and  drums,  who  responded  by  thronging  to  the 
rendezvous  near  the  Old  South  Church  at  the 
bend  of  the  Boston  Road.  Women  were  there, 
not  with  entreaty,  but  to  fasten  on  the  belt, 
and  gird  on  the  sword.* 

At  Andover,  twenty-five  miles  away,  the 
alarm  was  given  at  about  sunrise,  and  minute- 
men  were  ready  to  march  for  Concord  at  about 
10  o'clock.  On  their  way  through  Tewksbury 
they  learned  that  eight  Americans  had  been 
killed  at  Lexington;  and  at  Billerica,  that  the 
British  were  killing  Americans  at  Concord. 
Reaching  Bedford  they  learned  more  definitely 
that  two  Americans  had  been  killed  at  Concord, 
and  that  the  enemy  was  falling  back.f 

Lexington  lies  in  a  northwesterly  direction 
from  Boston,  at  a  distance  of  about  eleven  miles. 
At  that  time  it  was  the  abiding  place  of  John 
Hancock  and  Samuel  Adams  who  were  stopping 
at  the  parsonage  of  Rev.  Jonas  Clarke.  It  was 
then  supposed  that  one  of  the  objects  of  Gen. 
Gage  was  to  effect  their  capture,  and  that  his 
other  object  was  the  destruction  of  military 
stores  at  Concord.  Possibly  the  first  intima 
tion  that  Lexington  had  of  the  proposed  hostile 
visit  of  Gage's  troops  was  communicated  by  a 
young  man,  Solomon  Brown,  who  had  been  to 
Boston,  on  market  business,  and  on  his  return 


*  Hansen's  History  of  Beverly,  page  88;  Kurd's  Middlesex 
County,  II,  page  1010. 

f  Journal  of  Thomas  Boynton  of  Capt.  Ames's  Company,  and 
Kurd's  History  of  Essex  County,  II.,  page  1572. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  35 

had  passed  a  patrol  of  British  officers.  There 
were  ten  of  them,  it  was  late  in  the  afternoon, 
or  early  evening  of  April  18,  and  they  were 
riding  away  from  Boston  towards  Lexington, 
which  seemed  out  of  harmony  with  their  ordi 
nary  way  of  riding  back  to  Boston  at  night. 
Mr.  Brown  kept  somewhat  near  them  along 
the  road  for  awhile,  that  he  might  the  better 
determine  their  intentions,  allowing  them  to 
pass  and  repass  him  several  times.  Having  at 
last  satisfied  himself  that  their  mission  meant 
more  than  a  pleasure  sortie  into  the  country, 
he  gained  the  lead  once  more,  and  when  out  of 
their  sight  rode  rapidly  to  Lexington  and 
reported  his  observations  to  Orderly  Sergeant 
William  Munroe,  proprietor  of  Munroe's  Tav 
ern.* 

These  ten  officers  riding  in  advance  must  have 
known  that  actual  hostilities  were  at  hand,  for 
they  not  only  detained  travelers  on  the  highway, 
but  deliberately  insulted  a  large  number  of  the 
inhabitants  along  the  road.  Three  or  four  of 
them,  at  least,  went  far  beyond  the  behavior  of 
military  men  in  time  of  peace,  for  as  they  rode 
into  Lexington,  they  stopped  at  the  house  of 


*  In  a  article  on  the  Munroe  Tavern  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Lexington  Hist.  Soc.,  III.,  146,  Albert  W.  Bryant  recites  a  tra 
dition  that  the  information  of  ten  British  officers  riding  up  the  road 
was  given  to  Sergeant  Munroe,  who  gave  the  first  general  alarm 
that  assembled  Captain  Parker's  Company.  A  messenger  later 
was  sent  down  the  road  on  a  scouting  trip  for  the  British,  but  who 
did  not  return.  A  second  was  sent  who  did  not  return.  A  third 
was  sent  who  also  did  not  return.  A  fourth  was  despatched  who 
did  return  with  the  news  that  the  British  Army  was  really  march 
ing  on  Lexington,  and  that  the  previous  messengers  who  had  been 
sent  down  the  road  had  met  and  passed  two  or  more  British  soldiers 
riding  in  advance  of  the  main  body,  who  then  closed  in  on  them 
as  prisoners.  The  horse  of  the  fourth  messenger  had  become 
frightened  at  the  two  advancing  Britons  and  turned  back  in  spite 
of  his  rider,  who  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  British  front  ranks  on  the 
march.  [This  last  messenger  was  Captain  Thaddeus  Bowman, 
F.  W.  C.] 


36  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

Matthew  Mead,  entered  and  helped  themselves 
to  the  prepared  family  supper  of  brown  bread 
and  baked  beans.  Mrs.  Mead  and  her  daughter, 
Rhoda,  were  within,  and  Mr.  Mead  and  two 
sons  were  absent.  This  Lexington  home  was  at 
the  corner  of  Massachusetts  Avenue  and  Woburn 
Street,  where  the  Russell  House  now  stands.* 

Quickly  following  Solomon  Brown's  message 
came  a  written  one,  directed  to  John  Hancock, 
sent  by  Elbridge  Gerry,  one  of  the  Committee 
of  Supplies,  then  sitting  at  the  Black  Horse 
Tavern  in  Menotomy.  It  was  practically  to 
the  same  effect,  "that  eight  or  nine  officers  of  the 
King's  troops  were  seen,  just  before  night, 
passing  the  road  towards  Lexington,  in  a  musing, 
contemplative  posture;  and  it  was  supposed 
they  were  out  upon  some  evil  design."! 

Hancock  at  once  replied  to  Gerry  that  it  was 
said  the  officers  had  gone  to  Concord,  and  that 
he  would  send  word  thither.  J 

But  naturally  it  was  surmised  that  the  cap 
ture  of  Hancock  and  Adams  was  intended,  so  a 
guard  of  eight  men,  under  Sergeant  William 
Munroe,  was  stationed  around  the  home  of 
Rev.  Jonas  Clarke.  About  forty  of  the  members 
of  Captain  Parker's  Company  gathered  at  the 
Buckman  Tavern  after  the  mounted  officers 
passed  through  Lexington,**  and  it  was  deemed 
best  that  scouts  should  be  sent  out  to  follow 
them.  Accordingly  Solomon  Brown,  Jonathan 
Loring,  and  Elijah  Sanderson  volunteered  to 
act,  —  and  they  started  about  9  o'clock  in  the 

*  Our  Grandmothers  of  1775,  by  Miss  Elizabeth    W.    Harrington 
in  Lex.  Hist.  Soc.  Proceedings,  I,  51. 
f  Rev.  Jonas  Clarke's  Narrative. 

J  Life  of  Elbridge  Gerry,  by  James  T.  Austin,  page  67. 
**  Dep.  of  Joseph  Underwood. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  37 

evening.*  As  we  have  previously  written,  they 
were  ambushed  and  captured  at  about  10  o'clock 
on  the  road  towards  Concord,  in  the  town  of 
Lincoln,  by  the  same  ones  they  had  set  out  to 
follow. 

Soon  after  the  arrival  of  Paul  Revere  between 
12  and  1  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  April  19, 
with  the  intelligence  of  the  starting  of  the  King's 
troops,  Captain  Parker  assembled  his  company 
on  the  Common.  The  roll  was  called  and  they 
were  instructed  to  load  with  powder  and  ball. 
One  of  the  messengers  who  had  been  sent  to 
wards  Boston,  returned  and  reported  that  he 
could  not  discover  any  troops  on  the  way  out, 
which  raised  some  doubts  as  to  their  coming. 
It  was  between  1  and  2  o'clock  when  they  were 
dismissed  with  instructions,  however,  to  remain 
in  the  immediate  neighborhood,  for  quick 
response  to  the  call  of  the  drum.  Many  of 
them  adjourned  to  Buckman's  Tavern,  and 
the  others,  living  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  re 
turned  to  their  homes. 

Between  daylight  and  sunrise  Capt.  Thad- 
deus  Bowman  rode  up,  and  reported  that  the 
regulars  were  near.  The  drum  was  beat, 
and  Captain  Parker's  little  band  assembled  on 
the  Common. 

The  soldiers  of  the  King  were  but  one  hundred 
rods  down  the  road.f 

Bedford  an  adjoining  town  to  Lexington,  and 
about  fifteen  miles  from  Boston,  was  alarmed 
on  the  evening  of  the  18th,  by  Nathan  Munroe 
and  Benjamin  Tidd,  both  of  Lexington,  who 


*  Sanderson  having  no  horse  was  offered  one  by  Thaddeus  Har 
rington,  which  he  accepted.  Dep.  of  Elijah  Sanderson. 

f  Dep.  of  William  Munroe  containing  statement  also  of  a  British 
prisoner. 


38  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

had  been  sent  there  by  Captain  Parker  because 
of  the  suspicious  actions  of  the  British  officers 
on  their  way  to  Concord.  Munroe  and  Tidd 
aroused  the  town,  and  some  of  the  minute-men 
rallied  at  the  tavern  kept  by  Nathan  Fitch,  Jr., 
and  were  there  served  with  light  refreshments. 
Captain  Willson  said :  — 

"It  is  a  cold  breakfast,  boys,  but  we  will  give 
the  British  a  hot  dinner.  We'll  have  every 
dog  of  them  before  night."* 

The  larger  Bedford  rally  was  at  the  oak  tree 
standing  in  the  little  triangle  a  few  rods  west 
of  the  village,  where  the  road  to  Concord 
branches  away  from  the  road  to  Billerica.t 

Munroe  and  Tidd  continued  their  alarm  to 
Meriam's  Corner  in  Concord  and  returned  to 
Lexington  in  time  to  hear  the  first  alarm  bell 
in  the  morning  of  the  19th,  and  witness  the 
assembling  of  Capt.  Parker's  Company.  Mun 
roe,  being  a  member  joined  the  ranks,  and  Tidd 
remained  on  or  near  the  Common  and  was  dis 
persed  with  the  rest.} 

Josiah  Nelson,  living  in  the  northeast  part  of 
Lincoln,  was  awakened  on  the  night  of  the 
18th,  by  horsemen  passing  up  the  road.  Rush 
ing  out  partly  dressed,  to  ascertain  who  they 
were,  he  received  a  blow  on  his  head  from  a 
sword,  cutting  sufficiently  to  draw  the  blood. 
He  was  seized  and  detained  a  little  while  by  his 
British  captors,  and  when  released  had  his 
wound  dressed,  and  hurried  to  Bedford  and 
gave  the  alarm  in  that  town  also.** 


*  Brown's  History  of  Bedford,  page  24. 

t  Brown's  History  of  Bedford,  page  53. 

i  Deposition  of  Tidd  and  Abbot. 

**  Brown's  History  of  Bedford,  pages  218,  219. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  39 

Billerica,  seventeen  miles  northwest  from 
Boston,  probably  received  the  alarm  about  two 
o'clock,  and  when  the  encounter  on  Lexington 
Common  took  place  few  if  any  families  but 
had  heard  the  call  to  arms.* 

Concord,  seventeen  miles  northwesterly  from 
Boston  was  first  aroused  by  Dr.  Samuel  Prescott, 
between  one  and  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  of 
the  19th.  He  had  just  escaped  from  the 
British,  in  Lincoln,  at  the  time  they  captured 
Revere.  It  was  nearly  three  o'clock  when  the 
alarm  bell  was  rung,  whereupon  several  posts 
were  despatched,  who  returning,  brought  the 
news  that  the  regulars  were  indeed  coming; 
that  they  had  reached  Lexington,  and  killed 
six  Americans,  and  then  started  for  Concord,  f 
Capt.  Minot's  Company  took  possession  of  the 
hill  to  the  eastward  above  the  meeting  house, 
and  Capt.  Brown's  Company  marched  up  the 
road  to  meet  the  enemy.} 

•  Corporal  Amos  Barrett  of  Capt.  David 
Brown's  Company  has  left  a  written  statement 
that  he  thinks  one  hundred  and  fifty  minute- 
men  had  assembled.  His  Company  resolved 
to  go  up  the  road  towards  Lexington  and  meet 
the  British.  They  accordingly  marched  a  mile 
or  a  mile  and  a  half,  when  they  saw  them  com 
ing.  They  halted  and  awaited  them,  and  when 
they  were  within  one  hundred  rods  were  ordered 
by  their  captain  to  about  face.  They  marched 
back  to  the  village  to  the  music  of  their  fife  and 


*  Hazen's  History  of  Billerica,  page  235. 

t  Diary  of  Rev.  Wm.  Emerson  in  R.  W.  Emerson's  Discourse, 
and  Capt.  Amos  Barrett's  Account  of  the  Battle  in  True's  Journal. 

t  Dep.  of  Capt.  Nathan  Barret  and  fifteen  others  of  Concord, 
and  Dep.  of  John  Hoar  and  seven  others  of  Lincoln,  present  in  Con 
cord  before  the  arrival  of  the  British. 


40'  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

drum,  the  ^British  following,  also  playing  their 
fifes  and  drums.* 

Brown's  Company  consolidated  with  Minot's, 
and  both  took  up  a  new  position,  a  little  farther 
north  on  the  adjoining  hill,  back  of  the  town. 
The  British  were  so  many  more  in  number,  that 
it  was  thought  prudent  to  still  farther  retire. 
Accordingly  the  two  companies  marched  down 
the  hill,  over  the  North  Bridge,  distance  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  village,  and  took  a 
new  and  stronger  position  on  Punkatasset  Hill, 
a  little  more  than  a  mile  from  the  village,  but 
clearly  overlooking  it.  There  they  welcomed 
the  reinforcements  that  were  arriving  from  the 
neighboring  towns. 

In  Tewksbury,  twenty  miles  northwesterly 
from  Boston,  the  alarm  was  given  at  about 
2  o'clock  in  the  morning.  "The  British  are  on 
their  way  to  Concord  and  I  have  alarmed  all 
the  towns  from  Charlestown  to  here,"f  were 
the  words  that  aroused  Capt.  John  Trull,  from 
his  slumber,  who  in  turn  fired  his  gun  to  arouse 
Gen.  Varnum,  across  the  Merrimack  River 
over  in  Dracut,  a  signal  previously  agreed 
upon  between  them.  When  Capt.  Trull  reached 
the  village  his  men  were  awaiting  him  and  they 
at  once  started  for  Concord.  There  were  two 
other  Tewksbury  companies  commanded  re 
spectively  by  Capt.  Jonathan  Brown  and  Capt. 
Thomas  Clark,  who  also  responded  to  the 
alarm. 

In  Acton,  twenty-one  miles  northwesterly 
from  Boston,  and  the  adjoining  town  to  Concord 
westerly,  the  alarm  was  given  early  in  the 


*  Capt.  Amos  Barrett's  Account  of  the  Battle, 
f  Drake's  Middlesex  County,  II,  375-6. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  41 

morning.  Col.  Francis  Faulkner  resided  in 
South  Acton.  His  son,  Francis,  Jr.,  was  lying 
awake  and  listening  to  the  clatter  of  a  horse's 
feet  drawing  nearer  and  nearer.  Suddenly  he 
leaped  from  his  bed  and  ran  to  his  father's  room, 
adjoining,  and  exclaimed: 

"Father,  there's  a  horse  coming  on  the  full 
run,  and  he's  bringing  news!" 

His  father  had  heard  the  horseman  also,  for 
he  was  partly  dressed  with  gun  in  hand.  Across 
the  bridge  and  up  to  the  house  came  the  mes 
senger. 

"Rouse  your  minute-men,  Mr.  Faulkner,  the 
British  are  marching  on  Lexington  and  Con 
cord."  And  away  he  rode  to  spread  the  news. 

Col.  Faulkner,  without  completing  his  dress, 
fired  his  gun  three  times  as  fast  as  he  could  load, 
that  being  the  preconcerted  signal.  Very 
quickly  a  neighbor  repeated  it,  and  the  boy,  still 
listening,  heard  a  repetition  many  times,  each 
farther  away.  Thus  was  Acton  aroused. 

At  the  home  of  Col.  Faulkner  very  soon 
assembled  Capt.  Hunt's  Company.  Women 
were  there,  too,  to  help  as  they  might.  Stakes 
were  driven  into  the  lawn,  kettles  hung,  fires 
built,  and  a  dinner  for  the  soldiers  soon  cooked. 
Some  of  the  older  boys  were  delighted  to  follow 
on  and  carry  it  in  saddle-bags,  separately  from 
the  minute-men,  with  instructions  to  take  the 
field  roads  if  the  British  should  be  found  occupy 
ing  the  highways.  Col.  Faulkner  marched  away 
with  Capt.  Hunt's  Company,  to  take  command 
of  the  Middlesex  Regiment,  which  he  supposed 
to  be  assembling  at  Concord. 

The  hbme  of  Capt.  Davis,  was  about  a  mile 
westerly  from  the  meeting  house  in  the  centre 


42  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

of  Acton,  and  about  six  miles  from  the  North 
Bridge  in  Concord.  His  Company  were  assem 
bling  rapidly,  and  when  about  twenty  had 
reported  he  was  anxious  to  march.  A  man  of 
serious  mien,  he  seemed  particularly  so  on  the 
morning  of  April  19.  One  of  his  companions, 
speaking  cheerily,  perhaps  lightly,  was  gently 
reproved  by  the  brave  Captain,  who  seemed  to 
have  a  premonition  of  his  own  fate,  and  re 
minded  the  other  of  what  the  day  might  have 
in  store  for  them.  They  were  about  to  proceed 
when  he  turned  to  his  wife,  as  if  to  speak,  but 
he  could  only  say : 

"Take  good  care  of  the  children."* 
Then  he  turned  and  marched  away  with  his 
little  command.  It  might  have  been  seven 
o'clock  when  he  started,  f  to  the  lively  tune  of 
the  "White  Cockade"  played  by  his  fifer, 
Luther  Blanchard,  and  his  drummer,  Francis 
Barker. 

When  they  reached  the  westerly  part  of 
Concord  they  must  have  learned  what  the 
British  were  doing  at  the  home  of  Col.  Barrett, 
for  they  left  the  highway  and  passed  into  the 
fields  to  the  northward  of  the  Barrett  home, 
stopping  for  a  while  a  little  way  off  to  watch 
the  King's  soldiers  in  their  work  of  destruction 
of  the  military  stores.  Continuing  again,  they 
marched  through  the  fields  until  they  came  out 
into  the  highway  at  Widow  Brown's  Tavern,  J 
which  was  situated  across  the  river  from 
Concord  village,  a  mile  away.  From  there 
they  proceeded  by  way  of  the  Back  Road,  so 

*  Deposition  of  his  widow. 

f  Between  one  and  two  hours  after  sunrise.     Deposition  of  his 
widow. 

J  Deposition  of  Charles  Handley. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  43 

called,  to  the  high  ground  now  called  Punka- 
tasset  Hill,  rising  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
to  the  westward  of  the  North  Bridge. 

Other  companies  of  militia  and  minute- 
men  were  already  assembled  there,  and  Capt. 
Davis  marched  his  men,  who  now  numbered 
about  forty,  to  the  left  of  the  line,  a  position 
that  had  been  assigned  to  him  at  the  muster 
a  little  while  before. 

From  this  position  on  Punkatasset,  they 
looked  down  upon  the  gently  flowing  Concord 
River;  upon  the  old  North  Bridge  which 
crossed  just  in  the  immediate  foreground;  upon 
the  red-coated  soldiers  who  stood  grimly  on 
guard  at  the  nearer  end;  and  beyond,  up  the 
river  to  Concord  village,  three-quarters  of  a 
mile  away,  where  curling  volumes  of  smoke 
seemed  to  indicate  the  burning  of  American 
homes. 

In  Chelmsford,  twenty- three  miles  north 
westerly  from  Boston,  the  alarm  was  early 
given  by  a  mounted  messenger,  upon  which 
guns  were  fired  and  drums  beat.  Minute-men 
met  at  the  Alarm-post,  a  rock  standing  where 
the  hay-scales  were  placed  in  after  years. 
Captain  Moses  Parker's  Company,  and  Cap 
tain  Oliver  Barren's  Company,  marched,  not  in 
regular  order,  but  in  squads,  and  came  into 
Concord  at  Meriam's  Corner  and  on  Hardy's 
Hill  in  time  for  the  pursuit. 

In  Dracut,  twenty-five  miles  from  Boston, 
the  alarm  was  given  soon  after  two  o'clock,  by 
the  firing  of  a  gun  by  Capt.  Trull  across  the 
Merrimac  River  in  Tewksbury,  a  signal  pre 
viously  agreed  upon,  which  aroused  Gen. 
Varnum.  Two  companies  marched  immediately,. 


44  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

one  under  Captain  Peter  Coburn,  and  the  other 
under  Captain  Stephen  Russell.  They  were, 
however,  too  remote  from  the  scene  of  strife  to 
meet  the  British,  but  continued  their  rapid 
march  to  Cambridge. 

Littleton,  twenty-five  miles  from  Boston, 
was  alarmed  in  the  morning  by  the  news  of  the 
British  march  on  Concord.  The  messenger 
then  hurried  over  Beaver  Brook  Bridge,  and 
into  the  towns  beyond  on  his  mission. 

Even  in  Pepperell,  thirty-five  miles  north 
westerly  from  Boston,  the  alarm  went,  reaching 
there  about  9  o'clcok.  Gen.  Prescott  gave  orders 
to  the  Pepperell  and  Hollis  companies,  to  march 
to  Groton,  there  to  join  others  of  the  regiment.* 

Roxbury,  the  adjoining  town  to  Boston, 
southwesterly,  was  naturally  the  first  town  in 
that  direction  to  know  of  the  movement  of  the 
British.  William  Dawes,  the  first  messenger 
out  of  Boston,  as  we  have  seen,  passed  through 
the  town  on  his  round-about-way  to  Lexington, 
and  must  have  delivered  his  first  message  there 
before  11  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  the  18th. 
There  were  three  companies  under  the  com 
mand  of  Captain  Moses  Whiting,  Captain 
William  Draper,  and  Captain  Lemuel  Child, 
respectively,  who  took  active  parts  in  the 
events  of  the  19th.  As  they  marched  for  the 
scene  of  strife  many  women  and  children  fled  to 
other  towns  for  greater  safety,  t 

The  news  reached  Dedham,  ten  miles  south 
westerly  from  Boston,  a  little  after  9  o'clock  in 


*  Lorenzo  P.  Blood  in  Kurd's  Middlesex  County,  III,  231. 

t  There  is  a  tradition  in  the  Greaton  family  that  Mrs.  Greaton 
took  her  younger  children  and  such  articles  as  she  could  carry  in  a 
cart  and  fled  to  Brookline;  the  older  children  walking  beside  the 
vehicle.  Drake's  Roxbury,  61. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  45 

the  morning.     It  came  by  way  of  Needham  and 
Dover.* 

Framingham,  eighteen  miles  southwesterly 
from  Boston,  was  alarmed  before  8  o'clock  in 
the  morning.  A  bell  was  rung,  and  alarm  guns 
fired,  which  assembled  many  of  the  two  com 
panies  of  militia  and  one  of  minute-men,  who 
started  in  about  an  hour.  Captain  Edgell 
went  on  foot  the  entire  distance,  and  carried  his 
gun.  Those  living  in  the  extreme  south  and 
west  parts  of  the  town  followed  on  a  little  later. 
Not  long  after  the  men  had  left,  a  report  was 
started  that  negroes  were  coming  to  massacre 
them  all,  which  seemed  the  more  frightful  to 
the  women  and  children  because  of  the  absence 
of  about  all  of  the  able-bodied  men.  For  those 
defenceless  ones  at  home  it  was  a  terrible  day.f 

Newton,  seven  miles  westerly  from  Boston, 
was  alarmed  at  early  dawn  by  a  volley  from 
one  of  John  Pigeon's  field-guns,  kept  at  the  gun- 
house  in  Newton  Centre,  near  the  church.  { 

Sudbury,  eighteen  miles  westerly  from  Boston, 
received  its  first  news  by  a  messenger  from 
Concord,  eight  miles  away,  who  reported  to 
Thomas  Plympton,  a  member  of  the  Provincial 
Congress.  Captain  Nixon  was  aroused  by  a 
messenger,  who  shouted: 

"Up,  up!  the  red-coats  are  up  as  far  as 
Concord." 

Captain  Nixon  started  off  at  once  on  horse 
back.** 

In    Worcester,     forty    miles    westerly    from 


*  Haven's  Historical  Address,  page  46. 

t  Rev.  Josiah  H.  Temple,  in  Kurd's  Middlesex  County,  III,   624. 
J  Smith's  Newton,  341. 

**  Hudson's  Sudbury,   374-5,   and   Hudson  in  Kurd's  Middlesex 
County,  II/.401. 


46  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

Boston,  the  people  were  alarmed  before  noon 
by  a  messenger  mounted  on  a  white  horse 
dripping  with  sweat,  and  bloody  from  spurring. 
Driving  at  full  speed  through  the  town  he 
shouted : 

"To  arms,  to  arms!    the  war  has  begun!" 

At  the  church  the  horse  fell  exhausted. 
Another  was  procured  and  the  news  still  went 
on.  The  bell  rang  out  the  alarm,  cannon  were 
fired,  and  special  messengers  despatched  to 
every  part  of  the  town  to  summon  the  soldiers. 
In  a  little  while  110  men,  under  Captain 
Timothy  Bigelow  were  paraded  on  the  Green, 
and  soon  marched  for  Concord.  They  were 
met  on  the  way  by  the  intelligence  of  the 
British  retreat.  So  they  changed  their  course 
towards  Boston.* 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  the  full  de 
tails  of  that  messenger's  long  ride,  and  just 
where  in  the  westward  it  ended.  His  ex 
hausted  horse,  covered  with  bloody  foam,  falling 
in  the  street  before  the  church,  must  have  been 
a  spectacular  sight,  and'  one  that  spoke  loudly 
of  that  terrific  ride,  perhaps  the  longest  one  of 
all  the  messengers.  And  we  can  safely  imagine 
that  all  along  his  course,  other  messengers, 
drawing  their  inspiration  from  him,  rode  into 
the  north,  and  into  the  south,  bearing  with 
them  the  news  that  he  bore;  and  that  in  turn 
their  words  were  echoed  by  the  gun-volley,  the 
clanging  bell  and  the  drum-beat. 

The  reveille  had  now  been  sounded  in  Essex, 
in  Middlesex,  in  Norfolk,  and  in  Worcester 
Counties,  and  the  minute-men  were  on  their 
way  to  the  battle  of  April  19. 


*  Lincoln  and  Kersey's  History  of  Worcester,  97. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  47 

LIEUT.  COL.  SMITH'S  ADVANCE 
THROUGH  CAMBRIDGE. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  King's  soldiers 
under  the  command  of  Lieut.  Col.  Smith,  whom 
we  left  on  the  shore  of  Charles  River  at  Lech- 
mere  Point  in  Cambridge.  It  was  one  o'clock 
on  the  morning  of  the  19th,  before  the  column 
was  fully  under  way.* 

Lechmere  Point  then  had  but  one  house, 
which  stood  on  the  southern  slope  of  the  hill, 
on  the  northern  side  of  Spring  Street,  between 
Third  and  Fourth  Streets,  and  facing  to  the 
south. f  Where  the  troops  landed,  on  Second 
Street,  was  sufficiently  remote  to  be  out  of  sight 
and  hearing,  evidently  the  particular  aim  of 
the  commanding  officer. 

They  proceeded  cautiously,  following  an  old 
farm-road  around  the  northeasterly  slope  of 
the  hill,  sometimes  wading  in  the  marshes 
that  bordered  Willis  Creek,  and  fording  that 
stream,  waist-deep,  in  the  vicinity  of  Bullard's 
Bridge. 

Smith  evidently  thought  that  the  noise  of 
his  soldiers  tramping  across  the  bridge  itself 
might  attract  attention.  His  soldiers  found 
the  ford  a  long  one,  and  the  waters  deep.f 

Even  thus  early  on  the  expedition  was  the 
British  Army  betrayed  by  one  of  its  own 
soldiers,  if  the  tradition  handed  down  by  a 


*  A  British  officer  in  Boston  in  1775  (See  Atlantic  Monthly, 
April,  1877).  In  his  Diary  he  places  the  time  of  starting  at  two 
o'clock,  and  De  Bernicre,  in  his  report,  at  about  two  o'clock,  but  I 
am  compelled  to  compute  it  about  one  o'clock  considering  the  dis 
tance  they  had  to  march  and  the  well  known  time  they  arrived  at 
Lexington  Common,  viz.,  almost  eleven  miles  and  reaching  there 
at  half  past  four. 

t  E.  C.  Booth,  in  The  Somerville  Journal,  April,  1875. 

I  Diary  of  a  British  officer  in  Boston  in  1775. 


48  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

Mrs.  Moore  can  be  relied  upon.  Seventy-five 
years  or  more  ago  she  related  to  Rev.  J.  L. 
Sibley,  who  has  stated  accordingly,  that  she 
was  then  living  in  Cambridge,  a  young  girl, 
and  that  one  of  the  soldiers  was  taken  sick  after 
his  landing  at  Lechmere  Point,  and  accordingly 
permitted  by  his  commander  to  return  by  boat 
to  Boston.  He  did  not  immediately  return, 
however,  but  made  his  way  to  the  solitary 
farm-house  where  Mrs.  Moore  was  living. 
The  occupants  gained  from  him  the  significance 
of  his  midnight  presence,  and  it  was  considered 
of  sufficient  importance  to  communicate  speedily 
to  their  fellow  townsmen. 

Bullard's  Bridge  crossed  Willis  Creek,  near 
the  present  Prospect  Street,  which  runs  from 
Cambridge  to  Somerville.*  Later  on  the  Creek 
was  called  Miller's  River.  It  was  then  a  little 
tributary  to  the  Charles  River,  but  has  long 
since  been  filled  in,  and  modest  dwellings,  and 
more  pretentious  business  establishments  now 
cover  its  upper  area. 

LIEUT.  COL.  SMITH'S  ADVANCE 
THROUGH  SOMERVILLE. 

The  invading  army  emerging  from  Willis 
Creek  were  now  in  Somerville.  They  quickly 
arrived  at  Piper's  Tavern,  then  standing  in 
what  is  now  Union  Square.  It  was  after  two 
o'clock,  but  the  moon  was  shining  sufficiently 


*The  interested  reader  should  consult  the  map  of  Boston  and 
vicinity  by  J.  F.  W.  Des  Barres  first  published,  May  5,  1775,  and 
reprinted  in  Shattuck's  History  of  Boston,  and  the  one  by  Henry 
Pelham,  first  published  in  London,  June  2,  1777,  and  reprinted  in 
the  Siege  and  Evacuation  of  Boston.  A  study  of  them  will  enable 
one  to  more  fully  understand  the  topography  of  the  country  about 
Boston  at  that  time.  &  ,j 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  49 

bright  for  some  of  the  soldiers  to  read  the  sign 
aloud,  which  an  awakened  inmate  heard.  Up 
the  present  Bow  Street  they  marched,  passing 
the  Choate  and  Frost  houses,  continuing  along 
the  present  Somerville  Avenue  to  Jonathan 
Ireland's  house,  at  the  southwest  corner  of  the 
present  School  Street.  None  of  the  inhabit 
ants  just  along  there  seem  to  have  been  dis 
turbed.  A  few7  rods  farther  lived  Samuel 
Tufts  on  the  westerly  side  of  the  road  near  the 
present  Laurel  Street.  He  was  casting  bullets 
in  a  little  hut  back  of  his  dwelling,  and  being 
assisted  by  his  negro,  but  neither  of  them  heard 
the  tread  of  soldiers  in  the  road.  But  yet  a 
little  farther  along,  ho\vever,  at  the  northwest 
corner  of  the  present  Central  Street  lived  the 
widow  Rand.  She  was  disturbed  by  the  un 
usual  noise  in  the  road,  and  came  down  stairs 
in  her  night-clothes  to  investigate.  A  hog  had 
been  killed  for  her  the  day  before,  and  she 
feared  a  midnight  thief.  Upon  opening  the 
door  she  saw  the  soldiers,  but  hid  behind  the 
rain-water  hogshead  until  they  had  passed  and 
then  hurried  across  the  road  to  tell  her  neighbor 
Tufts  of  the  unusual  sight.  At  first  he  could 
not  believe  the  story,  but  with  his  lantern's  aid 
saw  the  many  foot-prints  in  the  road,  and 
became  convinced.  Springing  to  his  horse's 
back  he  took  a  short  cut  bridle  path  to  Cam 
bridge,  there  to  spread  the  alarm. 

Then  marched  the  column  by  Samuel  Kent's 
house  on  the  westerly  side  of  the  road,  at  the 
corner  of  the  present  Garden  Court.  Kent  did 
not  awake.  Then  by  the  Capen  house,  a  little 
farther  on  the  easterly  side.  No  one  there 
awakened.  Then  by  the  Hunnewell  brothers 


50  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

on  the  easterly  side  at  the  turn  of  the  road. 
They  were  both  somewhat  deaf  and  did  not 
hear  the  military  tread. 

The  next  house  is  the  home  of  Timothy  Tufts, 
on  the  easterly  side  of  the  road,  nearly  opposite 
Beech  Street.  Mrs.  Tufts  heard  the  soldiers, 
and  saw  from  her  bed  the  gun-barrels  shining 
in  the  moonlight.  She  awakened  her  husband 
and  they  both  looked  out  upon  that  red-coated 
column,  as  it  halted  long  enough  for  some  of 
the  soldiers  to  drink  at  the  well. 

LIEUT.  COL.  SMITH'S  ADVANCE 
THROUGH  CAMBRIDGE. 

The  march  was  again  resumed  a  few  rods 
farther  along  the  Milk  Row  road,  then  wheeling 
left  south-westerly  into  Cambridge  through 
what  is  now  Beech  Street,  less  than  an  eighth 
of  a  mile  in  length,  then  wheeling  right  into  the 
Lexington  and  Concord  road,  towards  the 
northwest.*  They  were  then  on  what  is  now 
known  as  Massachusetts  Avenue. 

Along  this  part  of  Battle  Road  in  Cambridge, 
were  perhaps  captured  the  first  prisoners, 
Thomas  Robins  and  David  Harrington,  both 
of  Lexington.  Robins  was  carrying  milk  to 
Boston,  and  in  company  with  Harrington  when 
they  reached  the  vicinity  of  Menotomy  River, 
the  present  dividing  line  between  Cambridge 
and  Arlington.  They  were  detained,  and  com 
pelled  to  return  to  Lexington  with  the  soldiers, 
and  released  at  the  commencement  of  hostilities 
on  the  Common,  f 

*  E.  C.  Booth  in  The  Somerville  Journal,  April,  1875. 
f  Francis    H.    Brown,    M.    D.,    in   Lexington    Historical   Society 
Proceedings,  III,  101. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  51 

LIEUT.  COL.  SMITH'S  ADVANCE 
THROUGH  ARLINGTON. 

Just  after  crossing  the  Menotomy  River  into 
Arlington  they  passed  a  house  where  lived  the 
venerable  Samuel  Whittemore  *  with  his  sons 
and  grandchildren.  Silent  as  was  the  march 
intended  to  be,  it  awoke  the  inmates  and 
preparations  for  the  day  commenced. 

The  troops  soon  arrived  opposite  to  the 
Black  Horse  Tavern,  kept  by  Mr.  Wetherby. 
Thus  far  their  march  had  not  been  heralded 
other  than  by  the  flashing  lights  and  fleet  and 
silent  messengers.  Lieut.  Col.  Smith  still 
thought  his  little  army  unnoticed,  for  he  rode  a 
little  way  beyond  the  Tavern,  halted  his  men, 
and  sent  back  an  officer  with  a  file  of  men,  to 
surround  and  guard  the  house,  while  others 
should  search  the  interior  for  members  of  the 
rebel  congress  whom  he  thought  to  be  within. 
His  surmise  was  correct,  to  some  extent,  for  three 
members  were  there,  just  awakened  by  the 
heavy  tread,  and  who  heard  the  low- voiced 
commands  to  halt. 

The  day  before,  April  18,  the  Committee  of 
Safety  and  the  Committee  of  Supplies,  had 
held  a  joint  meeting  at  the  Tavern,  and  there 
were  present,  Col.  Azor  Orne,  Col.  Joseph 
Palmer,  Col.  William  Heath,  Col.  Thomas 
Gardner,  Richard  Devens,  Abraham  Watson, 
Capt.  Benjamin  White,  and  John  Pigeon,  of  the 
Committee  of  Safety,  and  David  Cheever,  El- 
bridge  Gerry,  Col.  Charles  Lee,  and  Col. 
Benjamin  Lincoln,  of  the  Committee  of  Supplies. 
At  the  close  of  the  meeting  most  of  them,  being 

*  House  still  standing,  (1912)  and  numbered    54     Massachusetts 
Avenue. 


52  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

near  enough,  had  departed  for  their  homes.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  Richard  Devens  of 
Charlestown  departed  early  enough  to  meet 
Revere  on  the  Charlestown  shore,  and  acquaint 
him  with  the  movement  of  the  ten  British 
officers  riding  up  the  road.  It  will  also  be 
recalled  that  Elbridge  Gerry  had  sent  from  here 
a  messenger  to  John  Hancock  at  Lexington  to 
the  same  effect. 

However,  there  were  three  members  of  the 
two  committees  who  chose  to  remain  at  the 
Black  Horse  Tavern  that  night.  They  were 
Col.  Azor  Orne,  Elbridge  Gerry,  and  Col. 
Charles  Lee. 

It  was  not  quite  three  o'clock  when  the 
slumbers  of  these  three  men  were  disturbed  by 
the  unusual  noise  in  the  road,  and  they  went 
to  the  windows  and  looked  out  into  the  moon 
light  and  down  on  the  marching  host  and  its 
gleaming  arms.  They  watched  with  eager 
curiosity.  Not  for  a  moment  did  they  connect 
themselves  individually  with  the  movement, 
but  when  they  heard  the  command  to  halt,  and 
saw  a  file  of  soldiers  leave  the  ranks  for  the 
Tavern  they  were  startled,  and  then  it  suddenly 
occurred  to  them  that  possibly  they  were  the 
objects  of  those  military  manoeuvres.  They 
hurried  down  stairs,  even  clad  in  their  night- 
clothes  as  they  were,  and  finally  sought  a  safe 
exit  at  the  rear.  It  is  said  that  Mr.  Gerry,  in 
his  nervous  haste  to  escape,  was  on  the  point 
of  opening  the  front  door  and  rushing  out  that 
way,  but  was  prevented  by  the  cry  of  the 
landlord : 

"For  God's  sake,  don't  open  that  door,"  and 
who  then  conducted  the  three  to  the  back  part 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  53 

of  the  house,  and  headed  them  for  a  field  of 
corn  stubble.  Elbridge  Gerry  stumbled  and 
fell,  and  cried  out  to  his  friend : 

"Stop,  Orne,  for  me,  till  I  can  get  up;  I  have 
hurt  myself." 

His  position,  flat  on  the  ground,  out  of  sight 
because  of  the  corn-stubble,  suggested  that  it 
would  be  a  good  hiding-place  for  all,  so  the 
three  lay  prone  on  the  ground  until  the  King's 
troops  passed  on.  They  returned  to  the  Tavern 
finally  to  find  that  the  house  had  indeed  been 
searched  for  them,  very  ineffectively,  for  even 
their  personal  effects  including  Mr.  Gerry's  gold 
watch,  left  ticking  under  his  pillow,  had  not  been 
disturbed.  The  search  by  the  soldiers  had  not 
been  a  very  thorough  one. 

Col.  Lee  never  recovered  from  the  ill  effect 
of  his  exposure  on  the  damp  ground  in  the  night 
air,  too  thinly  clad  as  he  was,  for  he  died  within 
a  month.* 

The  march  of  the  British  forces  under  Lieut. 
Col.  Smith  up  to  this  point,  was  a  little  over  five 
miles,  and  it  was  nearly  three  o'clock.  He 
continued  serenely  for  a  little  farther,  for  un 
known  to  him  the  inmates  of  many  houses  that 
he  passed  were  aroused  by  the  measured  tread 
of  his  men. 

Solomon  Bowman,  Lieutenant  in  Captain 
Benjamin  Locke's  Company  of  Minute-men, 
lived  in  Menotomy,  now  Arlington.!  He  came 
to  the  door  to  witness  the  unusual  sight.  A 
soldier  perceiving  him,  left  the  ranks  and  asked 


*  Samuel  A.  Smith's  Address  at  West  Cambridge,  page  17. 

t  House  still  standing  on  the  northerly  side  of  Massachusetts 
Avenue,  numbered  417,  nearly  opposite  Whittemore  Street.  Arling 
ton  Past  and  Present.  Parker,  page  141. 


54  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

for  a  drink  of  water.  Bowman  refused  the 
request,  but  asked  him:  — 

"What  are  you  out  at  this  time  of  night  for?" 

The  reply  of  the  thirsty  soldier  was  not  re 
corded,  but  whatever  it  was  Bowman  readily 
drew  his  own  conclusions,  and  when  the  column 
disappeared  up  the  road,  hastened  to  call  out 
members  of  his  company.  They  formed  at 
day-break  on  the  Common.* 

But  at  the  house  across  the  road,  with  its 
chimneys  painted  white,  the  reception  was  more 
gracious.  A  tory  lived  there,  and  white  chim 
neys,  it  has  been  said,  indicated  the  owner's 
politics.f 

The  column  halted  again,  briefly  in  the 
centre  of  the  town,  and  Lieut.  Col.  Smith 
despatched  forward  six  companies  of  light 
infantry  under  Major  Pitcairn,  for  the  purpose 
of  earlier  securing  the  two  bridges  on  the  roads 
just  beyond  Concord  village.  J  Scarcely  had  he 
done  so,  when  signal  guns  and  alarm  bells  were 
heard,  which  indicated  a  general  awakening  to 
arms  of  the  Provincials.  Smith  realized  the 
full  meaning  of  those  ominous  sounds,  and  from 
there,  in  Arlington  village,  promptly  sent  back 
to  Gen.  Gage  for  reinforcements.  Fortunate 
for  him  that  he  did  so,  for  otherwise  the  day's 
climax  for  his  force  would  have  been  even  more 
disastrous  than  it  was. 

His  marching  soldiers  could  now  hardly 
expect  to  pass  any  house  unseen.  A  party  of 
young  men,  playing  cards,  even  at  that  late 


'Statement  of  Mrs.  Hill,  daughter  of  Bowman,  in  Smith's  Ad 
dress,  page  18. 
t  Smith,  18. 
J  Lieut.  Col.  Smith's  Report. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  55 

hour,  in  an  old  shop  that  stood  near  the  road, 
lost  their  interest  in  the  game  and  gave  it  up.* 

At  the  Tufts  Tavern,  still  standing  on  the 
easterly  side  of  Massachusetts  Avenue,  nearly 
opposite  Mt.  Vernon  Street,  the  soldiers  halted 
and  some  of  them  proceeded  towards  Mr. 
Tufts's  barn.  He  was  awake,  and  saw  them, 
and  suspected  that  their  mission  might  be  the 
confiscation  of  his  favorite  white  horse.  He 
called  for  his  gun,  but  his  prudent  wife  informed 
him  that  it  had  been  loaned.  Opening  the  door 
however,  he  addressed  a  British  officer  saying: 

"You  are  taking  an  early  ride,  sir!" 

"You  had  better  go  to  bed  and  get  your  sleep 
while  you  can,"  replied  the  officer  significantly,  f 

At  the  corner  of  the  main  road  and  the  one 
leading  to  Winchester,  now  Forest  Street,  "At 
the  Foot  of  the  Rocks,"  lived  a  shoemaker.  A 
light  glimmering  through  the  shutters  caught 
the  attention  of  an  officer,  who  sent  a  soldier  to 
investigate  its  cause,  so  late  in  the  night.  The 
good  wife  replied  that  her  "old  man"  was  sick 
and  she  was  "making  some  herb  tea."  That 
excuse  satisfied  the  officer,  for  the  family  was 
left  undisturbed.  The  "tea"  was  in  fact  melted 
pewter  plates  being  run  into  bullets.  When  the 
rap  first  came  at  the  door  the  old  man  took  to 
his  bed,  and  his  wife  emptied  the  molten  pewter 
into  the  ashes,  where  it  was  readily  found  after 
the  soldiers  had  passed  on.{  It  is  probable  that 
ere  night  some  of  the  leaden  tea  had  hardened 

*  A.  R.  Proctor,  who  heard  it  from  William  Hill  and  told  it  to 
Mr.  Smith.  The  shop  stood  front  of  the  residence  occupied  by 
James  Schouler  in  1864.  Smith,  West  Cambridge  Address,  page  19. 

t  Mrs.  Almira  T.  Whittemore  in  Parker's  Arlington,  194-5. 

J  Mrs.  Henry  Whittemore's  Statement,  Smith's  West  Cambridge 
Address,  20. 


56  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

into  leaden  fruit,  and  was  used  for  other  than 
medicinal  purposes. 

In  the  next  house,  still  standing  (1912)  and 
numbered  1193  Massachusetts  Avenue,  lived 
Capt.  Benjamin  Locke.  He  looked  out  and 
saw  the  marching  red-coats,  and  knew  what 
their  mission  was.  He  lost  no  time  in  arousing 
such  of  his  command  as  lived  in  that  neighbor 
hood. 

The  British  continued  along  the  main  road, 
which  at  that  time  ran  up  the  hill  westerly 
from  Capt.  Locke's  home,  and  is  now  called 
Appleton  Street,  into  Paul  Revere  Road,  and 
out  again  into  the  present  Massachusetts 
Avenue.  At  that  time  there  was  no  highway 
between  the  extreme  ends  of  these  two. 

Through  the  rest  of  Arlington  the  march  was 
uneventful,  save  the  capture  of  the  scouts 
sent  out  from  Lexington,  who  were  so  neatly 
ambushed  and  taken.  As  we  have  seen,  they 
were  permitted  to  come  down  the  road  passing 
a  few  soldiers  who  were  out  in  advance,  and 
who  secreted  themselves  when  an  approaching 
horseman  was  heard.  After  the  unfortunate 
scout  had  passed  into  the  stretch  of  road 
bounded  by  the  advance  guard  and  the  main 
body  he  was  not  permitted  to  return  to  Lexing 
ton. 

Two  men  from  Woburn,  Asahel  Porter  and 
Josiah  Richardson,  were  thus  captured.  It  has 
been  stated  that  they  were  on  their  way  to  the 
Boston  market.  If  they  lived  in  that  part  of 
Woburn  which  adjoins  Lexington,  then  their 
natural  journey  would  have  been  into  Lexington, 
and  thence  through  Arlington  and  Cambridge. 
But  it  may  be  that  they  were  scouting  simply, 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,   1775.  57 

for  they  were  on  horseback,  and  therefore  with 
out  any  apparent  market  business.  They  were 
compelled  to  dismount,  their  horses  taken, 
and  then  forced  to  walk  along  as  prisoners. 
Reaching  the  Common  in  Lexington  they  were 
both  released  by  their  kindly  disposed  guard, 
with  the  particular  understanding  that  they  were 
to  walk,  not  run,  away.  Richardson  accepted 
those  conditions,  carried  them  out  and  so 
escaped.  But  Porter,  once  over  Rufus  Mer- 
riam's  garden-wall,  twenty  rods  away  from  his 
-captors,  started  into  a  run.  Some  other  soldier 
than  his  guard  saw  him,  and  evidently  thinking 
that  a  prisoner  was  escaping,  promptly  shot  him 
through  the  body.  Those  captures  were  prob 
ably  made  in  Arlington,  and  not  far  from  the 
Lexington  boundary  line. 

LIEUT.  COL.  SMITH'S  ADVANCE 
THROUGH  LEXINGTON. 

It  must  have  been  just  over  the  line  into 
Lexington  that  the  young  man,  Simon  Winship, 
was  met.  He  was  on  horseback,  unarmed,  and 
passing  along  in  a  peaceable  manner,  when  he 
was  halted  and  ordered  to  dismount.  He 
questioned  their  right  to  treat  him  in  that 
manner,  but  for  answer  they  forced  him  from 
his  horse  and  compelled  him  to  march  on  foot  in 
their  midst.  They  asked  him  if  he  had  been 
out  warning  the  minute-men,  to  which  he 
replied  that  he  had  not,  but  that  he  was  return 
ing  home  to  his  father's.  He  was  kept  as  a 
prisoner  until  they  arrived  at  Lexington  Com 
mon,  two  and  one-half  miles,  where  he  was 
compelled  to  witness  the  shooting  of  his  fellow 
townsmen. 


58  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

Half  a  mile  farther  along,  and  about  two  miles- 
from  Lexington  Common,  Benjamin  Wellington, 
one  of  Capt.  Parker's  Company  of  minute-men, 
was  captured.  This  took  place  very  nearly  at 
the  corner  of  Massachusetts  Avenue  and  Pleas 
ant  Street.  Wellington  was  armed  and  on  his 
way  from  home  on  Pleasant  Street  to  join  his 
company.  Thus  it  is  claimed,  and  rightly,  that 
he  was  the  first  belligerent  or  armed  man  cap 
tured  by  the  British.  But  for  some  reason  he 
was  allowed  to  depart,  not  towards  the  Common, 
but  for  home.  His  gun  was  not  returned  to 
him,  however.  He  started  towards  home  but 
when  out  of  their  sight,  turned  and  passed 
northerly  along  the  crest  of  the  hills,  parallel  to 
the  highway,  and  reached  the  Common  just 
after  Thaddeus  Bowman,  but  ahead  of  the 
British. 


THE  OPENING  BATTLE  ON  LEXINGTON 
COMMON. 

The  six  companies  of  light  infantry  under 
command  of  Major  Pitcairn  were  now  consider 
ably  in  advance  of  the  main  body  under  Smith, 
and  up  the  road  somewhat  farther  than  the 
present  high  school  building,  even  farther  along 
than  where  the  Woburn  road,  now  Woburn 
Street,  turns  off  to  the  eastward.  When  still 
nearer  Lexington  Common,  within  about  one 
hundred  rods  of  it,  they  heard  the  beating  of  a 
drum  by  William  Dimond,  drummer  in  Captain 
Parker's  Company.  It  was  the  summons  for 
that  little  band  to  assemble  across  the  pathway 
of  an  invading  army.  Major  Pitcairn  accepted 
it  as  a  challenge,  and  promptly  ordered  his. 


60  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

soldiers  to  halt  and  load  their  muskets,  *  and 
then  to  march  on  the  double  quick  for  Lexington 
Common. f 

Captain  John  Parker's  company  numbered, 
all  told,  one  hundred  and  twenty  men,  but 
only  a  few  more  than  half  answered  to  this  call 
at  day-break,  April  19.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  Paul  Revere  did  not  reach  Lexington  with 
his  message  of  alarm  until  midnight.  Many 
of  the  minute-men  lived  too  remote  to  be  so 
quickly  summoned.  Captain  Parker's  home 
was  over  two  miles  away,  in  the  southwesterly 
part  of  the  town,  near  the  Waltham  line.  He 
was  called  at  about  one  o'clock,  {  and  stood 
on  the  Common  before  two  o'clock  with  such 
of  his  men  as  had  then  assembled.  We  have 
seen  how  they  answered  the  roll-call  and  then 
dispersed  to  be  within  call  of  the  drum,  as  the 
night  was  chilly.  Those  who  lived  near,  went 
home,  and  those  who  lived  too  far  away,  to 
quickly  go  and  come,  repaired  to  Buckman's 
Tavern,  close  at  hand. 

Captain  Parker  has  been  described  by  his 
grandson,  Theodore  Parker,  the  celebrated 
Unitarian  preacher,  as  being  "a  great,  tall  man, 
with  a  large  head,  and  a  high,  wide  brow." 
His  great  grand-daughter,  Elizabeth  S.  Parker, 
has  described  him  as  stout,  large-framed, 
medium  height,  like  Rev.  Theodore  Parker, 
but  with  a  longer  face.**  We  can  imagine  him 
as  a  prudent  man,  with  a  quiet,  yet  firm  courage. 

*  Deposition  of  Wm.  Munroe  who  states  that  he  saw  about  two 
hundred  cartridge  ends  dropped  by  the  soldiers  when  loading. 

t  Deposition  of  William  Munroe,  reciting  a  statement  to  him  by 
a  British  prisoner. 

J  Deposition  of  Captain  John  Parker. 

**  Article  by  Elizabeth  S.  Parker  in  Lexington  Historical  Society, 
I,  47. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  61 

Two  men  from  Woburn  had  just  arrived,  and 
it  was  then  a  little  before  five  o'clock.  They 
were  Sylvanus  Wood  and  Robert  Douglass. 
They  had  come  about  three  miles,  having  heard, 
about  an  hour  before,  the  ringing  of  the  bell  in 
the  Old  Belfry,  which  stood  near  the  church  on 
the  Common.  As  Wood  came  up  he  approached 
Captain  Parker  and  inquired  the  news.  Parker 
replied  that  he  did  not  know  what  to  believe, 
for,  half  an  hour  before,  a  messenger  had  re 
turned  with  the  assurance  that  no  British  were 
on  the  way.  While  talking,  another  messenger, 
Thaddeus  Bowman,  rode  up  with  the  startling 
announcement  that  the  British  were  within 
half  a  mile.  They  were  nearer  than  that  — 
not  even  down  the  road  as  far  as  Woburn  Street. 

Captain  Parker  then  ordered  his  drummer, 
William  Dimond  *  to  beat  to  arms.  The 
minute-men  assembled  from  their  homes  and 
from  the  Buckman  Tavern.  They  were  but 
few,  so  few  indeed,  that  he  turned  to  Wood 
and  begged  him  to  join  their  ranks.  Wood 
consented.  Parker  asked  him  if  his  young  com 
panion,  meaning  Robert  Douglass,  would  also 
join.  And  Douglass  also  enlisted  into  Captain 
Parker's  Company.  These  two  were  indeed 
brave,  for  the  danger  was  really  then  and  there. 

The  minute-men  gathered  around  their  cap 
tain  in  the  middle  of  the  road,  about  half  way 
between  the  meeting-house  and  the  tavern. 
The  meeting-hbuse  then  stood  where  the 


*  "William  Dimond.  Died  July  29,  1828.  Aged  73."  In 
scription  on  his  gravestone  in  Peterboro,  N.  H.  See  article  in 
the  Boston  Globe,  Sept.  23,  1903,  speaking  of  him  at  length  as  the 
drummer  in  Capt.  Parker's  Company.  See  also  the  deposition  of 
Sylvanus  Wood  who  called  him  William  Dimon.  See  also  list  of 
Capt.  Parker's  Company  in  Boutwell's  Oration  at  Acton. 


62  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

heroic  statue  of  a  minute-man  in  bronze  now 
stands.  The  tavern  is  still  standing  (1912). 

Parker  then  said : 

"Every  man  of  you  who  is  equipped,  follow 
me;  and  those  of  you  who  are  not  equipped,  go 
into  the  meeting-house  and  furnish  yourselves 
from  the  magazine,  and  immediately  join  the 
company."*  Joseph  Comee,  Caleb  Harrington 
and  Joshua  Simonds  then  went  into  the  meeting 
house,  to  comply  with  the  Captain's  command. 

Then  Parker  led  those  who  were  equipped, 
to  the  northerly  end  of  the  Common,  where 
they  formed  in  single  line.  Sylvanus  Wood 
stepped  from  the  ranks  long  enough  to  count 
them,  and  has  left  his  sworn  statement  that 
there  were  thirty-eight,  "and  no  more."f 

In  the  brief  moments  which  followed  others 
were  hastening  to  join  the  ranks,  and  as  they 
arrived  Orderly  Sergeant  William  Munroe 
attempted  to  form  them  into  a  second  line,  and 
partially  succeeded.  J  Even  later  still  a  few 
more  reached  the  Common,  and  were  back  to 
the  British  as  they  wheeled  grandly  around 
the  easterly  end  of  the  meeting-house  and  at 
last  stood  on  Lexington  Common.**  Captain 
Parker's  entire  force  then  numbered  between 
sixty  and  seventy  men,tt  ununiformed,  scantily 
armed,  poorly  disciplined,  pitifully  few  as  com 
pared  with  the  three  or  four  hundred  of  the 
British. 


*  Deposition  of  Sylvanus  Wood. 

t  Deposition  of  Sylvanus  Wood. 

J  Deposition  of  William  Munroe. 

**  Depositions  of  Nathaniel  Parkhurst  and  thirteen  others,  and 
of  Nathaniel  Mulliken  and  thirty-three  others. 

ft  Depositions  of  John  Munroe,  of  Ebenezer  Munroe,  and  of 
William  Tidd.  Also  of  Lieut.  Edward  Thornton  Gould,  of  the 
Fourth  or  King's  Own  Regiment,  taken  prisoner  at  Concord. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  63 

It  is  no  wonder  that  one  minute-man  ex- 
'claimed: 

"There  are  so  few  of  us  it  is  folly  to  stand 
here." 

Captain  Parker  heard  the  remark,  and 
answered : 

"The  first  man  who  offers  to  run  shall  be  shot 
down."* 

On  came  the  British,  almost  on  the  run,f 
the  light  companies  of  the  Tenth  Regiment  in 
advance. J  At  their  head  rode  Major  John 
Pitcairn  and  two  other  mounted  officers.** 

"Stand  your  ground,"  exclaimed  Parker; 
4  'don't  fire  unless  fired  upon.  But  if  they  want 
to  have  a  war  let  it  begin  here!"ft 

Major  Pitcairn  galloped  up  to  within  six 
rods  of  Captain  Parker's  foremost  line,  and 
exclaimed : 

"Lay  down  your  arms,  you  damned  rebels, 
and  disperse." 

Captain  Parker,  seeing  the  utter  hopelessness 
of  armed  resistance,  gave  the  order  to  disperse 
and  not  to  fire.Jt  He  did  not,  however,  order 
his  men  to  lay  down  their  arms.  Evidently 
Pitcairn  wished  to  disarm  them,  for  while  they 
were  dispersing  he  shouted  again :  — 

*  Depositions  of  Robert  Douglass  and  of  Joseph  Underwood. 

t  Deposition  of  William  Draper. 

J  Historical  Memoirs  of  the  52nd  Regiment  copied  in  Evelyn's 
Memoirs,  pages  56-7. 

**  Depositions  of  Thomas  Fessenden  and  of  John  Robbins. 

ft  When  this  scene  was  re-enacted  in  1822,  William  Munroe. 
Orderly  Sergeant  under  Parker  that  morning,  repeated  the  words 
of  Captain  Parker  as  above  quoted,  and  added:  "Them  are  the 
very  words  that  Captain  Parker  said."  Report  of  the  Committee 
-on  Historical  Monuments  and  Tablets,  1884.  Paul  Revere  heard 
Captain  Parker  say:  "Let  the  troops  pass  by  and  don't  molest  them 
without  they  begin  first."  See  Revere's  Narrative. 

J|  Deposition  of  Captain  John  Parker. 


64  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775 

"Damn  you,  why  don't  you  lay  down  your 
arms?* 

But  no  answer  came  back,  and  each  one  of 
Capt.  Parker's  little  band  retiring  from  the  field, 
carried  his  gun  with  him. 

Then  one  of  the  other  mounted  officers,  about 
two  rods  behind  Pitcairn,  name  unknown, 
brandished  his  sword  and  the  regulars  huzzaed 
in  unison.  He  then  pointed  his  pistol  towards 
the  minute-men  and  fired. f 

Pitcairn  was  back  to  that  officer,  so  did  not 
see  him  fire.  He  heard  the  discharge,  and 
easily  might  have  mistaken  it  as  coming  from 
an  enemy,  for  he  had  not  authorized  it  himself,  f 
Furious  \vith  passion  he  gave  the  order: 

"Fire!" 

There  was  hesitation  to  obey  from  his  men, 
for  he  repeated : 

"Fire,  damn  you,  fire!"** 

The  first  platoon  of  eight  or  nine  men  then 
fired,  evidently  over  the  heads  of  the  minute- 
men,  for  none  were  killed  or  wounded,  ft 
Pitcairn  saw  the  effects  of  that  volley  and 
realized  that  his  men  did  not  aim  to  kill.  Then 
came  his  next  order: 


*  Rev.  Jonas  Clarke. 

f  Deposition  of  Thomas  Fessenden. 

J  The  English  contention  is  that  the  Americans  fired  first.  See 
letter  of  W.  S.  Evelyn,  who  was  with  Percy;  De  Bernicre's  Ac 
count,  and  Lieut.  Col.  Smith's  Report.  It  seems  to  me  of  but  little 
moment  as  to  who  fired  first.  The  council  of  war,  convened  by 
Gen.  Gage,  April  18,  wherein  it  was  determined  to  march  out  and 
destroy  the  public  stores  of  Massachusetts  was  the  first  real  hostile 
act  and  could  only  lead  to  war.  Major  Pitcairn  has  denied  that  he 
authorized  that  first  shot.  I  believe  him  to  have  been  gruff  and 
profane,  but  honest,  brave,  and  faithful  to  his  King.  He  died 
from  wounds  received  in  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 

**Depositions  of  William  Draper;  of  William  Munroe;  of  Simon 
Winship  ;  of  John  Munroe;  and  of  John  Bateman,  a  British  soldier. 

ft  Deposition  of  William  Wood. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  65 

MG-    -dd-    -n  you,  fire  at  them!"* 
The  second  volley  surely  was  fired  to  kill. 
John  Munroe,  one  of  the  minute-men  in  line, 
thought  that  the  first  volley  was  nothing  but 
powder  and  so  remarked  to  Ebenezer  Munroe, 
who   stood   next   to   him.     But   as   the   second 
volley  came  quickly  and  with  fatal  effect,  the 
latter    answered    that    something    more    than 
powder  was  being  used  for  he  had  received  a 
wound  in  his  arm,  and,  he  added: 

"I'll  give  them  the  guts  of  my  gun."f 
These  two  Munroes  then  deliberately  fired 
at  the  British,  though  the  smoke  from  the 
latter's  guns  prevented  a  deliberate  and  careful 
aim.J  John  Munroe,  after  retreating  about 
ten  rods,  loaded  a  second  time,  with  two  balls, 
and  fired,  but  the  charge  was  too  heavy,  and 
he  lost  about  a  foot  from  the  muzzle  end  of  his 
gun.** 

Jonas  Parker,  cousin  to  the  Captain,  was 
mortally  wounded  through  the  body, ft  from 
the  second  volley,  but  having  sufficient  strength, 
fired  in  return.  He  had  but  just  uttered  his 
determination  not  to  run,  and  had  placed  his 
hat  on  the  ground  at  his  feet,  and  in  it  put  his 
bullets  and  extra  flints.  The  British  bullet  in 
his  body  caused  him  to  sink  to  his  knees,  but  he 
heroically  endeavored  to  reload.  He  could  not, 
before  the  advancing  enemy  were  upon  him, 

*  MSS.  narrative  of  Levi  Harrington,  a  youthful  spectator, 
f  Deposition  of  John  Munroe. 
J  Deposition  of  John  Munroe. 

**  MSS.   narrative  of  Levi   Harrington,  and  Deposition  of  John 
Munroe. 

tt  MSS.  Narrative  of  Levi  Harrington. 


66  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

and  one  of  them  ended  his  sufferings  with  a 
bayonet  thrust.* 

Jonathan  Harrington,  Jr.,  was  mortally 
wounded,  but  staggered  towards  his  home,  on 
the  northerly  end  of  the  Common.  He  fell 
before  reaching  there,  struggled  to  his  feet  again, 
and  staggered  almost  to  his  own  door,  where 
he  expired,  just  as  his  wife  rushed  to  meet  him. 
He  fell  near  the  barn,  then  standing  in  what  is 
now  Bedford  Street,  f 

Ensign  Robert  Munroe  was  killed  while 
attempting  to  escape.  He  was  just  at  the 
edge  of  the  Common,  by  the  wall  at  Merriam's 
barn.J  His  daughter,  Anna,  wife  of  Daniel 
Harrington,  who  lived  at  the  northerly  end  of 
the  Common,  must  have  seen  the  tragedy,  as 
must  also  his  two  sons,  Ebenezer  and  John, 
and  his  two  sons-in-law,  Daniel  Harrington  and 
Lieut.  Tidd,  all  four  in  line  with  Captain 
Parker. 

When  Parker  directed  such  of  his  force  as 
were  without  ammunition  to  proceed  into  the 
meeting-house  near  by,  and  supply  themselves 
from  the  town's  stock,  as  we  have  written, 
Joseph  Comee,  Caleb  Harrington  and  Joshua 
Simonds  entered  the  sacred  edifice  for  that 
purpose.  Simonds  succeeded  in  getting  down 
from  the  upper  loft  to  the  first  balcony,  two 
quarter  casks  of  powder,  and  had  removed  the 
head  from  one.**  The  opening  volley,  but  a 
few  rods  away,  indicated  to  him  that  hostilities 
had  commenced.  He  expected  to  meet  his 


*  Deposition  of  William  Munroe. 

f  MSS.  Narrative  of  Levi  Harrington. 

J  MSS.  Narrative  of  Levi  Harrington. 

**  Phinney's  History  of  the  Battle  of  Lexington. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  67 

fate.  Pointing  his  gun  to  the  open  cask  he 
resolved  to  blow  up  the  meeting-house,  himself 
and  his  enemies,  rather  than  to  have  them 
enter  and  capture  him.*  Comee  and  Harring 
ton  attempted  to  escape,  and  were  running 
from  the  westerly  end  of  the  meeting-house, 
when  the  fox6tei "was  shot  and  instantly  killed,! 
and  the  ka^fcer  wounded  in  the  arm.  He  made 
his  way  to  the  Marrett  Munroe  house,  passed 
through  it  and  out  of  the  back  door,  and  es 
caped  over  the  hill  at  the  rear. 

Then  with  savage  ferocity  the  British  rushed 
on,  hunting  down  the  fleeing  minute-men,  as 
they  attempted  to  escape  in  all  directions. 
A  mounted  officer,  supposed  to  be  Pitcairn, 
pursued  William  Tidd  up  the  North  road  (now 
Hancock  Street),  about  thirty  rods,  calling  out 
to  him: 

"Damn  you,  stop,  or  you  are  a  dead  man!" 

Thereupon  Tidd  leaped  over  a  pair  of  bars, 
made  a  stand  and  discharged  his  gun  at  his 
pursuer,  who  then  retreated  to  the  main  body.J 

Solomon  Brown  was  not  idle.  Though  not 
In  line  with  Captain  Parker's  men,  he  was  an 
active  participant.  After  their  second  volley, 
he  opened  fire  from  the  back  door  of  Buckman's 
Tavern,  and  then  in  order  to  get  a  better 
shot,  passed  through  to  the  front  door,  and 
fired  from  there.  The  British  retaliated  with 
a  return  volley,  and  the  bullet  holes  in  the  old 
building  still  vouch  for  it.  John  Buckman, 
the  landlord,  remonstrated  with  Brown,  against 
having  his  house  used  as  a  fort,  so  the  latter 


*  Deposition  of  Ebenezer  Munroe. 
t  MSS.  Narrative  of  Levi  Harrington. 
J  Deposition  of  William  Tidd. 


68  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

took  a  new  position,  lying  down  behind  a 
neighboring  stone  wall  back  of  the  barn,  and 
opened  fire  again.*  The  British  again  re 
sponded.  Their  leaden  bullets  spattered  against 
the  wall  and  from  their  impact  little  clouds  of 
stone  dust  like  smoke,  told  a  witness  where 
they  struck,  f  Brown's  aim  was  at  an  officer, 
and  group  of  soldiers,  and  subsequently  Abijah 
Harrington  saw  a  pool  of  blood  on  the  ground 
where  they  stood. J 

John  Brown  and  Samuel  Hadley  were  killed 
on  the  edge  of  the  swamp,  a  little  way  to  the 
north  of  the  Common.  They  were  retreating, 
but  not  beyond  the  reach  of  their  pursuers* 
bullets.** 

Asahel  Porter,  unarmed,  non-combatant,  and 
who  had  been  brought  up  from  Menotomy  w7ith 
Josiah  Richardson  as  prisoners,  was  killed  a  few 
rods  over  the  wall  in  Buckman's  garden,  to  the 
eastward  of  the  Tavern.  He  had  been  liberated 
with  other  prisoners,  and  had  been  cautioned 
not  to  run,  but  walk  away.  After  walking  a 
little  distance  he  felt  impelled  to  run,  and  was 
pursued  by  a  British  bullet,  with  fatal  effect. 
Richardson  walked  away,  and  safely  escaped. 

*  Miss  Mary  Merriam,  ninety  years  of  age  in  1887,  reported  to 
Edward  P.  Bliss,  that  she  had  heard  her  father  say  (and  he  was 
thirteen  years  old  when  the  battle  took  place)  that  on  that  morn 
ing  some  who  would  not  stand  up  for  their  country  believed  the 
British  would  not  fire  on  them.  They  were  at  the  Tavern.  The 
British  fired  on  them,  however,  and  they  promptly  retreated  to 
the  cellar  and  attic.  Edward  P.  Bliss  in  Lexington  Hist.  Society 
Proceedings,  I,  71. 

t  Depositions  of  William  Munroe,  minute-man,  and  of  Elijah 
Sanderson,  spectator.  Also  statement  of  Rufus  Merriam,  specta 
tor,  then  in  his  thirteenth  year,  to  Rev.  A.  B.  Muzzey.  Young 
Merriam  overheard  Buckman's  remonstrance.  Muzzey 's  Battle  of 
Lexington,  page  6.  MSS.  Narrative  of  Levi  Harrington. 

J  MSS.  Narrative  of  Levi  Harrington;  Deposition  of  Abijah 
Harrington. 

**MSS.  Narrative  of  Levi  Harrington,  who,  however,  erroneously 
names  them  John  Parker  and  Isaac  Hadley. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  69 

The  work  of  the  British  on  Lexington  Com 
mon,  occupying  less  than  half  an  hour,  was 
now  finished.  Their  casualties  were  slight,  one 
man  of  the  Tenth  Regiment  wounded  in  the 
thigh,  another  in  the  hand,  and  Major  Pit- 
cairn's  horse  shot  in  two  places.*  The  killing 
of  the  minute-men,  had,  however,  wrought  the 
rank  and  file  up  to  a  frenzied  pitch  of  excite 
ment,  so  much  so,  that  the  officers  had  difficulty 
in  forming  them  into  line  again,  f  They 
succeeded  though.  In  the  meantime  the  main 
body  under  Lieut.  Col.  Smith  arrived,  and 
when  they  were  all  in  marching  order  a  volley 
was  fired,  and  huzzas  shouted  as  an  expression 
of  victory,  and  then  they  proceeded  on  their 
way.  J  Just  then  the  sun  rose  on  this  new  field 
of  battle.** 

Again  the  fife  and  drum,  at  first  harsh  and 
loud,  echoing  against  the  neighboring  hills; 
then  fainter  and  fainter,  as  the  troops  marched 
up  and  over  th«e  summit  of  Concord  Hill,  a  mile 
away. 

And  when  they  were  indeed  gone,  the  men 
and  women  and  children  of  Lexington  came 
forth  from  their  hiding  places  and  looked  upon 
the  scene.  We  of  today,  have  never  seen  our 
Common  as  they  saw  it,  its  turf  torn  with 
horses'  hoofs,  and  clotted  here  and  there  with 
human  blood;  with  prostrate  figures  of  men, 
some  with  faces  upward  to  the  sky,  others 


*A  British  officer  in  Boston  in  1775,  De  Bernicre's  Account, 
Report  of  Lieut. -Col.  Smith,  Statement  of  a  British  Prisoner  as 
recited  in  Ebenezer  Munroe's  Deposition. 

t  A  British  Officer  in  Boston  in  1775. 

J  Rev.  Jonas  Clarke,  an  eye-witness  of  this  incident. 

**At  5.19  A.  M.  Astronomical  Diary  and  Almanack  for  1775, 
by  Nathaniel  Low. 


70  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

with  theirs  smothtered  helplessly  in  thfe  dust. 
One  might  almost  think  they  were  asleep. 

Such  was  the  fulfilment  of  their  solemn 
pledge,  that  they  stood  ready  to  sacrifice 
"everything  dear  in  life,  yea  and  life  itself,  in 
support  of  the  common  cause"* 

Strong  and  willing  arms  then  bore  all  of 
those  precious  dead  into  the  house  of  God. 
And  we  can  imagine,  as  they  came  forth,  that 
their  faces  were  turned  towards  Concord  Hill, 
shining  with  a  patriot's  full  meaning.  We  can 
go  with  them  through  the  day,  as  they  join  the 
men  of  Acton ;  of  Concord ;  —  men  from  all 
over  Middlesex,  and  Essex,  and  Norfolk  Coun 
ties,  who  also  stood  so  ready  to  defend  the 
common  cause,  yea,  even  with  life  itself! 

The  dead  on  or  near  Lexington  Common  were 
Jonas  Parker,  Jonathan  Harrington,  Jr.,  Ensign 
Robert  Munroe,  Isaac  Muzzy,  John  Brown, 
Samuel  Hadley,  Caleb  Harrington,  and  Asahel 
Porter.  The  wounded  were  John  Robbins,  so 
that  he  could  not  write  his  name  or  even  make 
his  mark;f  Solomon  Pierce;  John  Tidd,  sabre 
cut  on  his  head  by  a  British  officer  ;J  Joseph 
Comee,  on  his  arm;J  Ebenezer  Munroe,  Jr.,  on 
his  arm;  **Thomas  Winship ;  Nathaniel  Farmer; 
Prince  Estabrook  (colored)  and  Jedediah  Mun 
roe  (who  was  killed  later  in  the  day). 

Hardly  had  the  soldiers  of  King  George 
reached  the  summit  of  Concord  Hill,  a  mile 
away,  ere  stragglers,  wearing  the  same  uniform, 
were  seen  coming  up  the  road,  apparently 


*  From  a   patriotic  resolution  passed  in  Town   Meeting  in   De 
cember,   1773.     Hudson's  History  of  Lexington,  page  92. 
t  His  deposition  April  24,  1775. 
%  MSS.  Narrative  of  Levi  Harrington. 
**  His  deposition. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  71 

without  fear  or  guile.  There  were  five  in  all, 
but  as  they  came  singly  or  in  twos,  were  not 
looked  upon  as  dangerous  belligerents.  Joshua 
Simonds  emerging  from  the  meeting-house, 
captured  the  first  one,  took  his  gun  away,  and 
gave  it  to  Captain  Parker.*  Deacon  Benjamin 
Brown  captured  one.f  Joshua  Reed,  of  Wo- 
burn,  captured  one,  took  away  his  gun  and 
other  warlike  equipments  and  turned  him  over 
to  James  Reed  of  Burlington,  J  then  called 
Woburn  Precinct.  Two  more  were  taken  on 
or  near  the  Common,  and  their  arms,  or  those 
of  two  Britons  at  all  events,  carried  into  Buck- 
man  Tavern  by  Ebenezer  Munroe,  later  given 
to  minute-men,  who  had  none  of  their  own.** 

Another  prisoner,  the  sixth,  was  captured  by 
Sylvanus  Wood  of  Woburn,  the  man  who 
joined  Captain  Parker's  Company,  and  stood 
in  line  to  receive  the  first  volley,  as  the  British 
marched  into  sight.  When  they  marched  away 
he  followed  on,  up  over  Concord  and  Fiske  Hills. 
Arriving  at  a  turn  in  the  road,  beyond  the  latter, 
he  came  unexpectedly  upon  a  soldier  who  for 
some  good  reason  had  dropped  out  of  the  ranks. 
He  was  seated  at  the  roadside,  and  his  gun 
leaned  at  rest  beyond  his  reach.  Wood  was  a 
little  man,  about  five  feet  tall,  but  large  in 
valor.  So  he  demanded  the  surrender  of  his 
enemy.  Helpless  as  he  was  he  could  only 
comply,  and  \Vood  marched  him  back  to 


*  This  gun  descended  to  his  grandson,  Rev.  Theodore  Parker, 
who  gave  it  to  the  State  of  Massachusetts.  Bradford  Smith  in 
Lexington  Hist.  Soc.  Proceedings,  II,  145. 

f  Deposition  of  Abijah  Harrington. 

J  Deposition  of  James  Reed. 

**  Deposition  of  Ebenezer  Munroe. 


72  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,   1775. 

Lexington   Common   and    placed    him    in    the 
charge  of  a  Mr.  Welsh.* 

This  prisoner  also  was  captured  in  Lex 
ington,  at  the  bluff  near  the  Bull  Tavern,  later 
kept  by  Mr.  Viles.  It  stood  not  far  from  the 
Lincoln  line.  He  and  four  of  the  others  taken 
on  Lexington  Common  were  escorted  to  James 
Reed's  in  Burlington  by  Thomas  R.  Willard, 
William  Munroe,  and  E.  Welsh,  f 

LIEUT.  COL.  SMITH'S  ADVANCE 
THROUGH  LINCOLN. 

The  march  of  the  British  from  Lexington 
Common  to  the  Lincoln  line  and  thence  through 
the  Town  of  Lincoln  and  into  Concord  to 
Meriam's  Corner,  a  distance  of  a  little  over 
five  miles,  was  without  unusual  incidents. 
That  part  of  Lincoln  through  which  they  passed 
is  the  edge  of  the  town,  and  then,  as  now,  but 
sparsely  settled.  The  village  of  Lincoln  is  con 
siderably  to  the  westward,  fortunately,  and 
thus  most  of  the  inhabitants  were  too  remote 
for  insult  or  more  serious  trouble.  The  men  of 
Lincoln,  however,  were  not  unmindful  of  the 
enemy's  movements,  as  we  shall  see  later  on. 
In  the  woods  that  bordered  the  highway,  the 
British  saw  some  of  them,Jbut  not  in  sufficient 
number  evidently  to  oppose  their  advance. 


*  Mt.  Vernon  Papers  by  Edward  Everett,  page  430.  Everett, 
a  member  of  Congress  in  1826,  secured  a  pension  of  $96  per  year 
for  Wood.  Once,  when  the  latter  was  in  Washington  he  intro 
duced  him  to  President  Jackson.  See  also  the  History  of  Woburn, 
by  Sewall,  who  received  his  information  from  Wood's  son.  Also 
see  the  deposition  of  Wood. 

f  Deposition  of  E.  Welsh. 

J  Deposition  of  Lieut.  Edward  Thornton  Gould,  a  British 
prisoner. 


''JS^"^'^^--"*?1'-''*1 '""''•'  '•        m 


|M|A 

ISi 


<8 


11 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  73 

LIEUT.  COL.  SMITH'S  ADVANCE 
INTO  CONCORD. 

From  Meriam's  Corner  in  Concord  to  the 
centre  of  Concord  village  is  about  a  mile  and  a 
quarter.  From  the  Corner  and  on  the  northerly 
side  of  the  road,  commences  a  line  of  hills 
rising  fully  sixty  feet,*  or  more  above  the  road, 
which  skirts  along  their  edges,  and  perhaps  an 
eighth  of  mile  from,  and  parallel  to,  their  sum 
mits.  The  ridge  commands  very  easily 
and  nicely  the  road,  for  the  entire  distance, 
and  was  looked  upon  by  both  sides  as  a  desirable 
place  to  occupy.  Captain  Nathan  Barrett  and 
his  company  of  Concord  militia  had  occupied 
that  part  of  it  near  the  meeting-house  from 
about  an  hour  after  sunrise,  for  they  had  re 
ceived  the  intelligence  of  the  killing  of  six 
Americans  at  Lexington,  f  Capt.  George  Minot 
and  his  company  of  minute-men,  assembled 
there  also.f  Farther  along  the  ridge,  towards 
Meriam's  Corner,  other  Americans  had  taken 
position,**  probably  as  individuals.  It  was 
about  two  hours  after  sunrise  when  the  enemy 
came  into  sight.  |t 

As  Lieut.  Col.  Smith  came  into  view  of  this 
location  he  saw  the  body  of  provincials  along 
the  ridge,  and  quickly  decided  to  dislodge  them. 
The  light  infantry  were  ordered  to  that  work, 
and  they  succeeded  in  forcing  the  Americans 
back  to  the  village.  The  grenadiers  continued 
along  the  road,  driving  before  them  there, 

*  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  1886. 

t  Deposition  of  Capt.  Nathan  Barrett  and  fifteen  others,  all  of 
•Concord. 

t  Diary  of  Rev.  William  Emerson. 

**  Deposition  of  Lieut.  Edward  Thornton  Gould,  British. 

ft  Deposition  of  Capt.  Nathan  Barrett  and  fifteen  others. 


74  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

Captain  David  Brown's  Company  of  Concord 
minute-men,  who  had  marched  up  from  the 
village  as  far  as  Meriam's  Corner,  on  a  scouting 
trip.  When  the  British  were  seen  descending 
from  the  hills  of  Lincoln,  they  halted,  and  when 
the  enemy  came  within  about  one  hundred  rods, 
wheeled  about  and  marched  back  to  the  village, 
the  fifes  and  drums  of  both  forces  playing.* 

On  the  hill  not  far  from  the  village  stood  the 
Liberty  Pole,  from  the  summit  of  which  some 
kind  of  a  flag  was  flying.  The  British  cut  it 
down.f 

It  was  between  seven  and  eight  o'clock,  when 
the  enemy  reached  Concord  village.J  The 
march  from  Lexington  must  have  been  a  steady 
one,  without  interruption.  The  distance  is 
about  six  and  a  quarter  miles  and  the  elapsed 
time  about  two  hours.  The  entire  distance 
from  Lechmere  Point  is  about  seventeen  miles, 
sufficiently  long,  even  thus  far,  to  weary  many 
of  the  soldiers.  Add  to  the  length  of  the 
march,  their  loss  of  sleep,  before  starting,  and 
the  excitement  on  Lexington  Common,  it  is 
easy  to  imagine  that  a  few  halts  for  rest  were 
allowed,  though  an  anxiety  to  accomplish  their 
errand  would  not  have  permitted  of  unnecessary 
delays. 

Their  advance  into  Concord  village  compelled 
the  Americans  to  move  along  to  an  adjoining 
hill  just  to  the  northward,  which  they  subse- 

*  Capt.  Amos  Barrett's  Account,  who  was  then  present  as  a 
member  of  Brown's  Company. 

t  A  British  Officer  in  Boston  in  1775. 

J  De  Bernicre,  the  British  authority  who  was  present,  states 
the  time  as  being  between  nine  and  ten  o'clock,  but  I  follow  Captain 
Barrett  and  fifteen  others  who  state  in  their  deposition  that  it. 
was  about  two  hours  after  sunrise. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  75 

quently  abandoned,  and  marched  still  farther 
along,  passing  over  the  North  Bridge  and 
taking  a  stronger  position  on  Punkatasset  Hill 
whose  summit  is  fully  two  hundred  feet  * 
higher  than  Concord  River,  and  perhaps  half  a 
mile  from  the  bridge,  and  rather  more  than  a 
mile  from  the  village  itself.  It  was  their  third 
position,  and  then  about  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  f 

Reaching  Concord  village  Lieut. -Col.  Smith 
proceeded  at  once  to  carry  out  the  plan  of  his 
expedition,  viz.,  the  destruction  of  the  military 
stores.  Ensign  De  Bernicre  acted  as  guide  to 
where  they  could  be  found,  for  he  had  been  one 
of  the  spies  sent  out  by  Gen.  Gage  for  the 
express  purpose  of  locating  them. 

Smith  found  but  few  people  in  the  village,  for 
the  able-bodied  men  were  with  their  companies, 
and  many  of  the  non-combatants  had  considered 
other  places  more  secure.  Some,  however, 
remained,  and  the  British  officers  labored  to 
convince  them  that  no  bodily  harm  was 
intended. 

Pitcairn  was  especially  active  in  that  diplo 
matic  work,  but  insisting  all  the  time  that  their 
doors  must  be  unlocked  that  the  soldiers  might 
search  their  premises.  Many  would  not  sub 
mit  peaceably  to  such  an  indignity,  and  one  of 
those  old  men  of  Concord,  had  the  courage  to 
strike  Major  John  Pitcairn  in  the  presence  of 
the  King's  soldiers.  {  We  can  imagine  this 
incident  happened  before  that  doughty  officer 
entered  Wright's  Tavern,  and  called  for  liquor,. 


*  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  1886. 

t  Frederic  Hudson  in  Harper's  Magazine,  May,  1875. 

J  Lieut.-Col.  Smith's  report. 


76  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

into  which  he  plunged  his  finger  to  stir  the 
sweetening.  Some  of  the  precious  fluid  slopped 
over,  which  he  likened  to  the  way  Yankee 
blood  should  spill  ere  nightfall,  a  remark 
possibly  inspired  by  his  over-wrought  feelings 
at  the  affront. 

Captain  Lawrence  Parsons  of  the  Tenth  Regi 
ment,  with  six  light  companies,  was  immediately 
despatched  for  the  North  Bridge,  distance  three 
quarters  of  a  mile.  There  he  left  Capt.  Walter 
Sloane  Lawrie  of  the  Forty-third  Regiment, 
with  three  of  the  companies  for  guard  duty, 
while  he  proceeded  with  the  other  three  com 
panies,  guided  by  Ensign  De  Bernicre  over  the 
bridge  and  up  the  left  bank  of  the  Concord 
River  and  its  northerly  branch,  the  Assabet 
River,  to  the  home  of  Colonel  Barrett,*  almost 
two  miles  from  the  bridge,  f 

Capt.  Lawrie,  arriving  near  the  bridge, 
assigned  one  company  of  the  Forty-third  Regi 
ment  to  the  bridge  itself,  one  of  the  Tenth 
Regiment,  to  a  nearby  hill,  and  one  of  the 
Fourth  or  King's  Own  Regiment  to  another 
hill  a  quarter  of  a  mile  farther  away,J  so 
arranged  as  to  be  within  supporting  distance  of 
each  other.** 

After  the  six  companies  under  Parsons  had 
departed  Lieut.-Col.  Smith  sent  Capt.  Mundy 
Pole   of    the    Tenth    Regiment   with    a    force, 
towards    the    South    Bridge,    incidentally    for 
guard  duty  there,  and  in  particular  to  destroy 


*  De  Bernicre  and  Editor's  Note  to  Diary  of  a  British  Officer, 
t  l?f  miles,  to  be  exact. 

J  Editor's  Note  in  A  British  Officer  in  Boston  in  1775,  and  Dep 
osition  of  Lieut.  Edward    Thornton    Gould,  British  officer  present. 
**  De  Bernicre. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  77 

such  military  stores  as  they  might  find.*  The 
distance  from  the  village  to  the  bridge  is  almost 
a  mile.t  They  went  a  little  beyond,  to  the 
homes  of  Amos  and  Ephraim  Wood,  and  in  the 
vicinity  of  Lee's  Hill.J 

Within  the  village  the  British  were  very 
active  in  their  search  for  the  military  supplies. 
Public  buildings,  stores,  and  private  dwellings 
were  alike  examined.  At  the  malt  house  of 
Ebenezer  Hubbard  a  considerable  quantity  of 
flour  was  discovered,  and  the  end  boards  of  the 
building  were  pulled  off,  that  the  barrels  might 
the  easier  and  faster  be  rolled  out  into  the 
road,  where  they  were  broken  open,  and  the 
contents  mixed  with  the  dust.**  At  the  store 
house  of  Timothy  Wheeler,  another  lot  of  flour 
was  found,  which  the  miller,  by  a  little  artifice, 
saved.  It  was  indeed  public  property,  but 
Wheeler,  placing  his  hand  upon  the  bags  of 
meal,  one  after  another,  and  which  stood  with 
the  flour,  assured  the  soldiers  that  he  was  a 
miller,  and  that  they  were  his. 

They  were  considerate  enough  to  spare  his 
personal  property,  and  included  the  flour. ft 

At  the  neighboring  grist-mill  several  barrels 
were  seized,  and  rolled  to  or  into  the  mill  pond, 
but  part  was  subsequently  saved,  as  it  hardly 
reached  the  water. 


*  De  Bernicre. 

t  If  mile  to  be  exact. 

J  Frederic  Hudson,  in  Harper's  Magazine,  May,  1875. 

**  Ripley,  Rev.  Ezra.     History  of  the  Fight  at  Concord. 

tt  Ripley. 

J  |  The  old  mill-pond  occupied  a  goodly  portion  of  the  land  bounded 
by  Lexington  Road,  Heywood,  Walden,  and  Main  Streets,  the 
northerly  corner  almost  reaching  Wright's  Tavern.  Subsequently 
it  was  filled  in  and  now  stores  and  dwellings  occupy  its  entire  area. 


78  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

Deacon  Thomas  Barrett,  brother  of  Colonel 
Barrett,  was  a  resident  of  the  village.  He  was 
an  aged  man,  and  remained  quietly  in  or  near 
his  home  while  the  soldiers  were  busy  in  looting 
and  destroying.  He  was  a  man  of  gentle 
demeanor,  and  unarmed,  but  they  seized  him, 
called  him  rebel,  and  even  threatened  to  take 
his  life.  He  pleaded  with  them  to  dispense  with 
that  trouble,  for  his  extreme  age  meant  that  he 
should  soon  die  anyway.  They  permitted  him 
to  go  in  peace.  In  his  building  was  a  gun- 
factory  carried  on  by  his  son,  Samuel  Barrett.* 


BATTLE  AT  NORTH  BRIDGE  IN  CON 
CORD. 

In  the  meantime  large  numbers  of  Americans 
were  gathering  on  the  hills  to  the  northward 
beyond  the  river.  The  commander  of  the 
British  at  the  North  Bridge  and  vicinity  was  not 
unmindful  of  that,  and  deemed  it  wise  to  con 
centrate  his  little  army  of  three  companies  at 
the  bridge  itself,  as  that  seemed  to  be  the 
threatened  point  of  attack.  Consequently  the 
two  remoter  companies  were  marched  down 
from  the  hills  and  joined  the  third,  and  then  all 
three  marched  to  the  easterly  or  nearer  end  of 
the  bridge. 

About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  beyond  the  North 
Bridge,  and  in  a  westerly  direction  from  it,  is 
a  little  hill  about  forty  feet  higher  than  the 
river,  f  To  reach  it  by  road  from  the  bridge 
meant  traveling  over  two  sides  of  an  irregular 


*  Ripley. 

t  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  1886. 


80  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

triangle,  and  going  nearly  half  a  mile.*  The 
crest  of  the  elevation  commands  a  beautiful 
View  up  and  down  the  river,  with  the  North 
Bridge  in  the  middle  foreground,  and  the 
village  nearly  a  mile  away  to  the  southward. 

The  Americans  moved  forward  from  Punka- 
tasset  Hill  to  this,  their  fourth  position,  at  about 
nine  o'clock,  as  their  reinforcements  had  aug 
mented  sufficiently  to  induce  a  growing  feeling 
of  aggressiveness.  Here  were  assembling  the 
sturdy  men  of  Concord  and  of  Acton ;  of  Bedford,. 
Lincoln,  and  Carlisle,  and  of  other  neighboring 
towns.  Joseph  Hosmer  acted  as  Adjutant, 
forming  the  soldiers  as  they  arrived,  the  minute 
companies  on  the  right  and  the  militia  on  the 
left,  facing  the  bridge."}" 

Col.  James  Barrett  summoned  his  subordi 
nate  officers  for  a  council  of  war,  the  first  one  of 
the  American  Revolution,  and  while  they  were 
so  engaged,  Captain  Isaac  Davis  and  his 
company  of  minute-men  from  Acton  arrived, 
and  marched  to  a  position  on  the  left  of  the  line, 
as  they  had  been  accustomed  to  on  training- 
days.  After  halting  his  little  command,  Capt. 
Davis  joined  his  brother  officers  in  their  council 
of  war. 

There  were  then  assembled  on  that  little  hill, 
four  Concord  companies,  commanded  respec 
tively  by  Capt.  David  Brown,  fifty-twro  men; 
Capt.  Charles  Miles,  fifty-two  men;  Capt. 
George  Minot,  number  of  men  unknown;  and 
Capt.  Nathan  Barrett,  number  of  men  also 
unknown.  From  Acton  there  were  three  com- 


*  The  road  forming  one  side  of  the  triangle,  and  leading  from 
the  bridge,  has  been  discontinued  and  now  appears  only  as  a  part 
of  the  river  meadow. 

t  Lemuel  Shattuck  as  quoted  by  Josiah  Adams,  page  27. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  SI 

panics,  one  under  Capt.  Isaac  Davis,  thirty- 
eight  men;  one  under  Capt.  Joseph  Robins, 
number  of  men  unknown;  and  one  under  Capt. 
Simon  Hunt,*  number  of  men  also  unknown. 
There  were  two  companies  from  Bedford,  one 
being  under  Capt.  John  Moore,  fifty-one  men; 
and  the  other  under  Capt.  Jonathan  Willson, 
twenty-eight  men.  A  little  later  Captain  Will- 
son  was  killed  and  his  command  fell  to  Lieut. 
Moses  Abbott.  Lincoln  was  represented  by 
Capt.  William  Smith  with  sixty-two  men.f 

In  addition  to  these  regular  organized  sol 
diers,  there  were  many  individuals  present, 
who  undoubtedly  took  a  patriotic  part  in  the 
subsequent  events,  and  easily  constituted  the 
American  force  as  one  of  at  least  four  hundred 
and  ninety. 

These  men  looked  down  on  the  hostile  troops 
at  the  Bridge,  and  beyond  the  river  to  the 
village,  where  huge  volumes  of  smoke  were 
rising  from  the  bonfires  of  military  stores. 
These  seemed  to  them  as  the  burning  of  their 
homes.  Inspired  by  that  fear,  and  by  their 
knowledge  of  the  bloodshed  at  Lexington,  they 
were  ready  to  follow  where  their  officers  should 
lead.  Their  council  could  only  decide  in  one 
way: 

4 'To  march  into  the  middle  of  the  town  for  its 
defence,  or  die  in  the  attempt ."  J 

Col.  Barrett  then  gave  the  order  to  Major 
John  Buttrick  to  lead  an  advance  over  the 
Bridge  and  to  the  centre  of  the  town.  And  his 

*  Statement  of  Aaron  Jones,  a  member,  in  Adams's  Address,  page  21. 
t  Affidavit  of  Amos  Baker,  a  member. 

J  Survivors  testified  that  both  Major  Buttrick  and  Capt.  Davis 
used  these  words.  See  Ripley's  History  of  the  Concord  Fight. 


82  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

instructions  were  like  those  of  Captain  Parker 
a  few  hours  before,  not  to  fire  unless  fired  upon. 

It  was  then  between  nine  and  ten  o'clock.* 
Col.  Barrett  retired  to  the  rear  on  higher 
ground,  f  and  Major  Buttrick  hastened  to 
execute  his  order.  His  choice  for  a  company 
to  lead  was  naturally  one  from  Concord,  but 
the  Captain  of  that  one  replied  that  he  would 
rather  not.J  We  wonder  at  the  reason,  for 
Concord  seemed  to  be  the  most  deeply  con 
cerned  just  at  that  hour.  However,  it  could 
not  have  been  for  lack  of  courage,  for  the 
Concord  companies  were  a  part  of  that  advance. 
Then  Buttrick  turned  to  Capt.  Davis,  and 
asked  him  if  he  was  afraid  to  go.  Davis 
promptly  responded: 

"No,  I  am  not;  and  there  isn't  a  man  in  my 
company  that  is."** 

He  immediately  gave  the  command  to 
march,  and  the  men  of  Acton  wheeled  from  the 
left  of  the  line  to  the  right,  and  were  the  first  to 
march  upon  the  invaders. 

Major  John  Buttrick  of  Concord  led  in  person 
this  little  army  down  the  slope  towards  the 
river,  but  not  until  he  had  offered  the  command 
to  a  superior  officer  who  happened  to  be  present, 
but  without  a  command,  Lieut. -Col.  John 
Robinson  of  Prescott's  Regiment.  Robinson 
lived  in  Westford,  and  had  responded  to  the 
alarm.  Magnanimously  he  refused  the  honor 
to  lead,  but  with  characteristic  bravery,  begged 
that  he  might  march  by  Buttrick's  side,  which 


*  Journal  of  Capt.  David  Brown,  Commander  of  one  of  the  Con 
cord  companies,  as  quoted  by  Adams,  page  32. 
t  Ripley. 

%  Deposition  of  Bradley  Stone. 
**  Depositions  of  Bradley  Stone  and  Solomon  Smith. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  83 

the  latter  acceded  to.  These  were  the  two  men 
in  front  of  all  the  American  host  to  first  march 
against  the  soldiers  of  their  King. 

Then  came  Captain  Isaac  Davis  and  his 
company  of  thirty-seven  men  from  Acton. 
Then  next,  a  Concord  company  under  Charles 
Miles.  Then  two  more  Concord  companies 
under  Capt.  David  Brown  and  Capt.  Nathan 
Barrett.*  Another  company  from  Acton,  then 
fell  into  line,  the  one  commanded  by  Capt. 
Simon  Hunt.  They  were  just  turning  the 
corner  of  the  main  road  when  the  firing  at 
the  bridge  took  place,  f  By  order  of  Col. 
Barrett  the  companies  from  Bedford  and 
Lincoln  next  fell  into  line.  The  march  was  by 
twos,  and  to  the  tune  of  "The  White  Cockade," 
played  by  two  young  filers,  Luther  Blanchard 
of  Davis's  Acton  company,  and  John  Buttrick 
of  Brown's  Concord  company.J 

Down  the  road,  now  discontinued,  in  a 
southerly  direction  to  the  point  of  the  triangle, 
then  back  towards  the  Bridge  in  an  easterly 
direction,  in  all  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  they 
marched.**  The  British  watched  the  advance 
keenly,  and  when  the  southerly  point  of  the 
triangle  was  reached,  and  the  columns  wheeled 
left  towards  the  Bridge,  they  commenced  to 
pull  up  the  planks.  Major  Buttrick,  in  a  loud 
voice,  ordered  them  to  desist,  whereupon  they 
left  the  Bridge  and  hastily  formed  for  action  in 
the  road  just  beyond  the  easterly  end.  Then 

*  Corporal  Amos  Barrett  of  Brown's  Company  indicates  Davis's 
as  first  and  his  own  company  as  third.  The  exact  order  of  the 
other  participating  companies  I  am  unable  to  give. 

t  Statement  of  Aaron  Jones,  a  member,  to  Mr.  Adams.  See 
Adams's  Address,  page  21. 

J  Frederic  Hudson. 

**  Doolittle  picture.     Adams,  1835.     Frothingham,  1851. 


84  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

came  the  report  of  the  first  hostile  gun  in  the 
battle  of  Concord,  fired  from  the  British  ranks. 
Solomon  Smith,*  a  member  of  Davis's  Acton 
company,  saw  where  the  ball  struck  the  river, 
on  his  right,  which  then  ran  nearly  parallel  to 
the  road.  This  was  quickly  followed  by  two 
others,  but  they  were  not  thought  by  the 
Americans  to  be  aimed  at  them  either. 

Still  onward  marched  Major  Buttrick  and  his 
little  band.  They  soon  came  nearly  to  the 
Bridge,  when  a  sudden  volley  from  the  British 
indicated  their  serious  intention  to  check  the 
American  advance.  Luther  Blanchard,  the 
fifer  from  Acton,  was  slightly  wounded,  t 

Major  Buttrick  heard  his  cry  of  anguish,  and 
almost  jumping  into  the  air,  exclaimed: 

"Fire,  for  God's  sake,  fire!" 

The  order  was  obeyed.  The  British  re 
sponded,  killing  Capt.  Davis  and  one  of  his 
privates,  Abner  Hosmer.  Davis  on  realizing 
that  Blanchard  was  wounded  had  taken  a 
firmer  position  on  a  flat  stepping-stone,  and 
while  aiming  his  gun  received  a  bullet  through 
his  heart.  Hosmer  was  killed  by  a  bullet 
through  his  head.J  Ezekiel  Davis,  brother  of 
the  Captain,  and  a  private  in  his  company, 
was  wounded,  as  was  also  Joshua  Brooks  of 
Lincoln,  whose  forehead  was  slightly  cut  by  a 
bullet  which  continued  through  his  hat.** 

The  opening  volley  of  the  Americans  was 
also  effective,  killing  one  private,  and  wounding 

*  Deposition  of  Solomon  Smith. 
t  Deposition  of  Solomon  Smith. 
J  Frederic  Hudson. 
**  Deposition  of  Amos  Baker. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  85 

Lieut.  Hull  of  the  Forty-third  Regiment;  Lieut. 
Gould  of  the  Fourth;  Lieut.  Kelly  of  the  Tenth; 
Lieut.  Sutherland  of  the  Thirty-eighth ;  and  a 
number  of  the  rank  and  file. 

The  Americans  under  Major  Buttrick  ad 
vanced  and  the  three  British  companies,  under 
Lowrie,  gave  way,  and  retreated  towards 
Concord  village.  They  were  met  on  the  way  by 
reinforcements  consisting  of  two  or  three  com 
panies  headed  by  Lieut. -Col.  Smith  himself, 
who  was  responding  to  a  very  urgent  request 
for  assistance  from  Capt.  Lowrie,  sent  just 
before  the  engagement  began.  Smith  being  a 
"very  fat,  heavy  man,"  according  to  the  testi 
mony  of  one  of  his  officers,  who  has  left  an 
interesting  diary  for  our  perusal,*  instead  of 
reaching  Lowrie  at  the  Bridge  met  him  but  a 
little  way  out  of  the  village. 

From  the  moment  of  that  heroic  advance  of 
the  Americans  over  the  bridge,  military  disci 
pline  among  them  ceased. f  They  rushed  after 
the  retreating  British  but  a  few  rods,  then  pro 
ceeded  to  an  eminence  on  the  east  side  of  the 
road  back  of  Elisha  Jones's  house,  taking 
position  there  behind  a  stone  wall,  and  perhaps 
an  eighth  of  a  mile  from  where  the  British  halted 
when  they  were  met  by  their  reinforcements. J 

^A  British  Officer  in  Boston  in  1775.  See  also  Rev.  Mr.  Emer 
son's  account,  who  speaks  of  the  "marches  and  counter-marches 
for  half  an  hour."  and  their  "great  fickleness  and  inconstancy  of 
mind."  Smith  can  hardly  be  blamed  for  nervousness  at  that 
moment  with  part  of  his  eight  hundred  men  at  Col.  Barrett's,  five 
hundred  Americans  between,  and  another  part  of  his  force  at  the 
South  Bridge. 

t  "Our  company  and  most  of  the  others  pursued,  but  in  great 
disorder."  Deposition  of  Thomas  Thorp  of  the  Acton  Company. 
"The  loss  of  our  Captain  was  the  cause  of  much  of  the  confu 
sion  that  followed."  Deposition  of  Solomon  Smith  of  the  Acton 
Company. 

J  Deposition  of  Solomon  Smith. 


86  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

Why  the  Americans  turned  aside  instead  of 
pursuing  their  enemies  into  Concord  village  as 
they  had  resolved  to  do,  can  only  be  surmised. 
Why  they  gave  no  heed  to  the  small  force  still 
behind  them  up  the  river,  engaged  in  destroying 
American  property  at  Col.  Barrett's,  excites  our 
wonder,  too.  Not  lack  of  personal  courage 
surely,  but  rather  a  lack  of  military  experience. 

While  these  scenes  were  being  enacted  at  the 
North  Bridge,  the  British  force  above  alluded 
to,  and  consisting  of  three  companies  under 
Capt.  Parsons,  had  gone  up  the  river,  to  the 
home  of  Col.  Barrett,  nearly  two  miles  from  the 
Bridge.  They  were  under  the  direct  guidance 
of  the  spy,  Ensign  De  Bernicre,  who  had  pre 
viously  gone  over  the  road,  and  made  himself 
familiar  with  its  topography,  and  particularly 
with  the  hiding  of  military  stores  among  the 
homes  along  the  way.  He  knew  thoroughly 
well  of  those  at  Col.  Barrett's,  and  that  place 
above  all  others  was  the  principal  objective. 

Early  that  morning  the  men  in  the  Barrett 
family  had  busied  themselves  in  securing  the 
Colonial  stores.  They  had  plowed  a  tract  of 
land  about  thirty  feet  square,  south  of  the  old 
barn  and  later  used  as  a  kitchen  garden.  One 
guided  a  yoke  of  oxen,  in  turning  over  the 
furrows,  into  which  others  dropped  the  muskets 
that  had  been  stored  in  the  house.  Succeeding 
furrows  covered  them  nicely.  Musket  balls 
were  carried  to  the  attic,  put  into  the  bottoms 
of  barrels  which  were  then  filled  with  feathers.* 
Other  munitions  were  hidden  in  the  adjoining 
woods,  f 

*  Sidney,  Margaret.     Old  Concord,  Her  Highways  and  Byways, 
t  Rev.  Mr.  Emerson's  Narrative. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  87 

When  the  soldiers  reached  there  they  found 
the  homestead  in  care  of  the  venerable  wife  of 
Col.  Barrett.  Capt.  Parsons  explained  his 
mission,  and  assured  her  it  was  his  aim  to 
destroy  public  property  only,  and  to  capture 
Col.  Barrett.*  They  commenced  their  search, 
but  did  not  find  as  much  as  expected. f  Nor 
did  they  capture  the  commander  of  the  minute- 
men. 

While  this  work  was  in  progress,  Col.  Barrett's 
son,  Stephen,  a  young  man  of  about  twenty-five 
years,  returned  from  his  mission,  up  the  river 
road  to  Price  Plain,  to  intercept  minute-men 
expected  from  Stow,  Harvard,  and  other  towns 
in  that  vicinity.  He  wished  to  inform  them  of 
the  danger  surrounding  his  own  home,  that  they 
might  travel  by  some  other  road  into  Concord. 

Reaching  the  kitchen  door  of  his  own  home 
he  was  met  by  a  British  officer,  who,  thinking 
he  might  be  Col.  Barrett,  placed  him  under 
arrest.  Upon  learning  from  Mrs.  Barrett, 
however,  of  his  mistake,  that  he  was  her  son, 
the  young  man  was  released. J  Another  son, 
James,  Jr.,  being  lame  and  inactive,  did  not 
attract  any  hostile  attention.** 

So  successfully  had  Col.  Barrett  and  his 
numerous  assistants  secreted  the  large  amount 
of  provincial  property  left  in  his  charge,  that 
Capt.  Parsons  found  but  little  to  confiscate  or 
destroy.  He  seized  and  burned  a  few  gun- 
carriages  in  the  road  near  the  house. ft 


*  Sidney, 
t  De  Bernicre. 
t  Sidney,  page  23. 

**  Frederic     Hudson.     The     Concord     Fight     in     Harper's  New 
Monthly  Magazine,  May,  1875. 
ft  Ripley. 


88  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

This  was  the  remotest  point  of  the  British 
invasion.  The  three  companies  at  Col.  Bar 
rett's  had  by  far  the  longest  route  of  any,  by 
several  miles.  After  a  night  without  sleep,  and 
so  long  a  march  they  were  hungry  and  thirsty, 
and  Mrs.  Barrett  was  requested  to  supply  their 
wants.  She  was  in  no  position  to  refuse. 
Some,  if  not  all,  were  willing  to  pay  for  what 
they  had,  but  the  good  lady  refused,  saying: 

"We  are  commanded  to  feed  our  enemy  if  he 
hunger." 

Some,  however,  insisted,  and  on  leaving 
tossed  their  money  into  her  lap.  She  could  only 
exclaim: 

"It  is  the  price  of  blood!"* 

The  object  of  their  mission  being  accom 
plished,  so  far  as  within  their  power,  they  set 
out  for  a  return  march  to  the  village  by  the 
same  roundabout  route  over  the  North  Bridge, 
as  they  came.  When  at  Widow  Brown's 
Tavern  at  the  cross  roads,  within  about  a  mile 
of  the  Bridge,  they  halted  and  three  or  four 
officers  entered  the  house  for  drink.  The 
soldiers  sat  at  the  roadside,  and  drink  was 
carried  out  to  them.  Pay  was  offered  to  Mrs. 
Brown  by  the  officers,  but  she  declined  to 
receive  it.  Charles  Handley,  a  youth  in  his 
thirteenth  year,  and  a  native  of  Concord,  was 
living  there,  and  has  left  his  sworn  statement, 
that  he  then  heard  the  guns  at  the  Bridge,  but 
that  the  British  did  not  appear  to  notice  them. 
It  was  then  generally  understood  that  they 
knew  nothing  of  the  engagement  until  their 
arrival  at  the  scene,  and  saw  the  British  slain,  f 


*  Frederic  Hudson. 

f  Charles  Handley's  Deposition. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  89 

There  were  two,  one  having  been  killed  instantly, 
and  the  other,  at  first  wounded,  and  while 
helpless,  despatched  with  a  savage  cut  in  the 
head  with  a  hatchet.  It  seems  that  after  the 
British  had  been  driven  from  the  Bridge  and 
the  Americans  had  also  passed  in  pursuit,  a 
young  man  employed  by  Rev.  William  Emerson, 
at  the  Old  Manse  (still  standing,  1912),  came 
forth  to  view  the  field  of  strife.  He  saw  the 
wounded  Briton  attempting  to  arise,  and  in  a 
thoughtless  moment,  conceived  it  his  patriotic 
•duty  to  kill  him.  He  did  so,  as  the  soldier  was 
on  his  knees,  in  a  futile  attempt  to  stand.  The 
hatchet  sank  deep  into  his  skull,  and  the  blood 
gushed  forth,  and  covered  the  top  of  his  head, 
as  he  sank  back  to  Concord  battle  ground.  A 
little  later  the  British  force  under  Capt.  Parsons 
passed  him  on  their  way  to  the  village.  They 
could  only  shudder,  and  bear  away  the  im 
pression,  which  was  subsequently  published,  that 
the  Americans  had  scalped  and  cut  off  the  ears 
of  their  enemies.*  The  young  man  who  did 
the  deed  lived  many  years,  and  often  confessed 
that  his  conscience  had  been  sorely  troubled. f 

The  men  under  Captain  Parsons  were  thus 
permitted  to  join  the  main  body  of  British  very 
much  to  their  surprise,  and  which  was  forcibly 
expressed  by  Ensign  De  Bernicre  in  his  account 
of  the  battle.}  As  we  have  seen,  the  main  body 


*  Deposition  of  Zechariah  Brown  and  Thomas  Davis,  Jr.,  who 
buried  the  two  soldiers  in  a  common  grave  near  where  they  fell. 
A  memorial  stone  marks  the  spot. 

t  I  have  his  name,  but  do  not  think  it  best  to  insert  it  in  this 
narrative.     Revenge  was  deeply  impressed  on  his  mind  by  the  bit 
terness  of  public  feeling  against  the  mother  country.     He  was  too 
oung  to  exercise  proper  judgment  in  separating    the  soldier  from 
ing. 

See  De  Bernicre'a  Account. 


90  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

of  the  Americans  halted  on  the  high  ground  to> 
the  eastward  of  the  Elisha  Jones  house.  From 
that  moment  to  the  arrival  of  the  British  at 
Charlestown  Neck,  no  one  seemed  to  be  in 
command,  and  discipline  of  any  kind  was  not 
attempted. 

While  military  critics  cannot  endorse  the 
kind  of  warfare  employed  by  the  Americans  on 
that  day,  almost  if  not  quite  of  a  guerilla  nature, 
yet  it  must  be  confessed  that  their  death  roll 
was  much  smaller  and  their  success,  in  some 
respects  much  greater,  than  it  would  have  been 
had  they  fought  as  an  army,  in  the  open,  under 
some  brave  commander.  The  British,  on  the 
other  hand,  were  ever  in  the  highway,  standing 
or  marching  in  a  solid  formation.  The  Ameri 
cans  were  never  more  than  a  dozen  or  a  score, 
side  by  side,  and  usually  not  more  than  two  or 
three.  Their  selected  position  was  a  sheltered 
one;  behind  the  walls;  among  the  trees;  even 
within  the  houses.  Often  the  vigilant  flank- 
guard,  which  Lieut. -Col.  Smith  counted  upon  so 
intelligently,  came  upon  them  unawares,  and  so* 
added  to  the  American  death  roll.  Had  they 
known  the  value  of  the  flanking  movements,  and 
still  fought  as  individuals  as  they  did  from  the 
North  Bridge  to  Charlestown  Neck,  but  few 
would  have  been  slain. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  Americans  halted  on 
the  high  ground  to  the  eastward  of  Elisha 
Jones's  house.  They  felt  that  when  the  re 
treating  British  were  reinforced,  they  would 
return  and  renew  the  struggle.  In  their  strong 
position  behind  the  stone  wall  they  had  no 
cause  to  fear  an  assault,  for  the  advantage 
would  be  greatly  with  them.  But  Lieut. -CoL 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  91 

Smith  also  realized  as  much  and  turned  his 
troops  back  into  Concord  village. 

Several  of  the  minute-men  then  returned  to 
the  North  Bridge,  and  conveyed  the  bodies  of 
Capt.  Isaac  Davis  and  private  Abner  Hosmer 
to  the  home  of  Major  Buttrick,  which  stood 
near  the  spot  from  which  they  started  on  their 
fatal  march.*  Later  in  the  day  they  were  con 
veyed  to  Acton. 

Such  was  the  baptism  of  Concord  soil  with 
the  blood  of  its  brave  defenders. 

Captain  Mundy  Pole  of  the  Tenth  Regiment 
with  one  hundred  men,  had  been  detailed  by 
Lieut.-Col.  Smith  for  guard  duty  at  the  South 
Bridge.  He  was  also  instructed  to  destroy  any 
public  stores  that  he  might  find  in  that  vicinity. 

The  Bridge  is  nearly  a  mile  southerly  from 
the  village,  and  in  an  opposite  direction  from 
the  North  Bridge,  the  t\vo  being  nearly  two 
miles  apart. 

Captain  Pole  reached  there  about  eight 
o'clock,  and  promptly  placed  a  guard  at  the 
Bridge  to  prevent  any  one  passing  into  or  out 
of  the  village.  Then  he  foraged  the  immediate 
neighborhood  for  food  and  drink  for  his  force, 
which  was  easily  accomplished,  as  most  of  the 
able  bodied  men  were  absent  on  patriotic  duties. 

They  searched  the  houses  of  Ephraim  Wood, 
Joseph  Hosmer  and  Amos  Wood,  but  with 
slight  success,  for  most  of  the  stores  once  there 
had  been  secreted  elsewhere.  The  Britons 
demeaned  themselves  nicely  in  this  neighbor 
hood  and  were  generous  enough  to  pay  for  what 
food  they  took.  Each  of  the  women  at  Amos 

*  Deposition  of  Solomon  Smith. 


92  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

Wood's  house  was  presented  with  a  guinea. 
In  this  home  was  one  room  pretty  well  filled 
with  goods  that  were  sought  for.  It  was  locked, 
but  the  gallant  officer  believing  that  women 
were  hiding  within,  issued  orders  that  none  of 
his  soldiers  should  enter  it. 

Capt.  Mundy  Pole's  little  expedition  to  this 
part  of  Concord,  was  not  entirely  without 
results,  however.  He  succeeded  in  knocking  off 
the  trunnions  of  three  iron  twenty-four  pound 
ers,  burning  their  carriages,  destroying  a  small 
quantity  of  flour,  and  several  barrels  of  trench 
ers  and  wooden  spoons.* 

Some  of  his  soldiers  ascended  Lee's  Hill,  about 
one  hundred  feet  f  higher  than,  and  overlook 
ing,  the  river  down  to  North  Bridge.  From 
there  they  could  plainly  see  the  growing  excite 
ment,  as  evidenced  by  the  moving  about  of  the 
minute-men,  and  the  constant  accession  to  their 
numbers.  Finally  there  came  echoing  up  the 
valley,  the  signal  gun,  then  two  more,  then  the 
volley;  and  they  knew  the  scene  on  Lexington 
Common  was  being  re-enacted. 

They  descended  the  Hill,  and  gathered  with 
the  others  at  the  South  Bridge,  removed  the 
planks  therefrom  to  protect  their  retreat,  and 
marched  rapidly  back  to  the  main  body  in  the 
village. J 

Lieut.-Col.  Smith  now  commenced  to  realize 
his  distance  from  Boston  and  the  dangers  that 
might  lurk  along  the  way.  He  had  his  entire 
force  assembled  in  Concord  village  very  soon 
after  ten  o'clock,  but  his  many  wounded  soldiers 


*  De  Bernicre. 

t  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  1886. 

J  Frederic  Hudson. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  93 

required  attention  before  he  could  begin  his 
return  march.  Some  of  them  were  attended 
by  Dr.  Cumings  and  Dr.  Minot,  of  the  village.* 
As  no  provision  had  been  made  by  the  British 
commander  for  the  transportation  of  his  dis 
abled  soldiers,  the  people  of  Concord  were 
called  upon  to  supply  the  deficiency.  A  chaise 
was  confiscated  from  Reuben  Brown,  and 
another  from  John  Beaton.  Bedding  from 
near-by  houses  was  added  for  the  comfort  of 
the  riders.  Several  horses  were  taken,  among 
them  one  belonging  to  Capt.  Smith  of  the 
Lincoln  Company,  which  he  had,  for  some 
reason,  left  at  Wright  Tavern,  before  he 
marched  for  North  Bridge.  Lieut.  Hayward 
of  Concord,  recaptured  Reuben  Brown's  chaise 
from  the  regulars  in  Arlington,  and  with  it  a 
horse,  bedquilt,  pillow,  etc.,  for  the  owners  of 
which  he  advertised  in  the  Essex  Gazette  of 
Aug.  10,  1775. f 

Besides  his  wounded,  Lieut.-Col.  Smith  had 
his  able-bodied  men  to  consider  also.  They 
had  been  without  sleep  since  the  time  of  starting 
from  Boston  Common,  at  half  past  ten  o'clock 
the  evening  before,  and  possibly  back  to  the 
night  before  that.  They  had  already  marched 
over  seventeen  miles  to  Concord  village,  and 
those  who  had  gone  to  Col.  Barrett's,  and  to 
the  North  and  South  Bridges,  so  much  farther 
yet.  They  had  passed  through  the  exciting 
scenes  of  bloodshed  at  Lexington  Common  and 
North  Bridge,  which  must  have  added  agitated 
minds  to  weary  bodies.  His  soldiers  needed 


*  Frederic  Hudson, 
f  Frederic  Hudson. 


94  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

rest  and  Smith  knew  it,  and  was  justified  in 
granting  the  two  hours  that  he  did. 

Aside  from  those  reasons  Smith  had  another 
good  one  for  not  starting,  at  once.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  when  he  had  reached  Arlington 
(Menotomy)  realizing  his  march  had  aroused 
the  entire  community,  he  had  sent  back  an 
urgent  request  to  Gen.  Gage  for  strong  re 
inforcements.  He  could  reasonably  expect  them 
to  reach  any  place  that  he  had,  within  three 
hours  at  least,  of  his  time.  But  unfortunately 
for  Smith  the  forces  under  Percy  had  not 
started  until  nine  o'clock  that  morning,  and 
were  then  less  than  five  miles  on  the  way,  and 
coming  over  a  longer  route  than  he  had  taken.* 

The  destruction  of  the  public  military  stores, 
according  to  the  report  of  Lieut. -Col.  Smith, 
hardly  balanced  his  loss  of  prestige  even,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  British  lives  that  had  been 
and  would  be  given  up  in  the  cause.  He  gives 
his  men  credit  for  knocking  the  trunnions  off 
from  three  field  pieces  of  iron  ordnance;  de 
stroying  by  fire  some  new  gun  carriages,  and  a 
great  number  of  carriage  wheels;  and  throwing 
into  the  river  considerable  flour,  some  powder, 
musket  balls  and  other  small  articles.  De 
Bernicre  in  his  account,  adds  to  the  list,  by 
mentioning  barrels  of  trenchers  and  spoons  of 
wood  destroyed  by  Capt.  Pole. 

While  the  bonfire  was  consuming  the  cannon 
wheels,  it  was  discovered  that  the  Court 


*  In  the  Diary  of  A  British  Officer  in  Boston  in  1775,  and  who 
was  with  Smith  in  the  Concord  expedition,  he  writes  of  the  return  to 
Lexington  and  the  expected  re-inforcements:  "We  had  been  flat- 
ter'd  ever  since  the  morning  with  the  expectation  of  the  Brigade 
coming  out,  but  at  this  time  had  given  up  all  hope  of  it,  as  it  was  so 
late." 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  95 

House,  facing  the  Green,  was  on  fire.  It  was 
noticed  by  Mrs.  Martha  Moulton,  an  elderly 
widow  who  lived  close  by,  and  who  had  not 
fled  with  the  younger  part  of  the  population 
as  the  enemy  approached.  She  felt  that  her 
years,  seventy-one,  would  be  her  protection,  as 
indeed  they  were.  She  has  left  an  interesting 
statement  of  the  events  of  those  few  hours,— 
how  her  home  was  invaded  by  the  soldiers  for 
food  and  water;  how  Pitcairn  and  other  officers 
sat  before  her  door,  watching  the  soldiers  in 
their  destructive  work;  how  she  discovered  the 
Court  House  on  fire,  and  how  earnestly  she 
pleaded  with  them  to  put  it  out,  even  bringing 
water  for  them  to  do  so.  At  first  they  were 
indifferent,  but  finally  yielded,  and  extinguished 
the  flames.  Thus  was  the  Court  House  saved, 
and  possibly  some  of  the  adjoining  homes,  by 
Martha  Moulton.* 

The  provincial  Congress,  in  their  published 
account  of  the  damages  sustained  in  Concord, 
aside  from  the  public  stores,  set  the  value  at 
£274,  16s,  7  d.  of  which  £3,  6s,  was  for  broken 
locks  in  His  Majesty's  Jail.f 


LIEUT.-COL.  SMITH'S  RETREAT 
THROUGH  CONCORD. 

It  was  about  twelve  o'clock  when  Lieut.-Col. 
Smith  gave  the  order  to  march.  As  the  neigh 
boring  hills  were  covered  with  provincials,!  he 

*  Petition  of  Martha  Moulton,  Concord,  Feb.  4,  1776,  to  the 
Honorable  Court  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  for  recog 
nition  of  her  services  on  that  occasion. 

t  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress. 

J  De  Bernicre  thought  there  could  not  have  been  less  than  five 
thousand  rebels  on  the  hills  about  Concord.  His  anxiety  greatly 
multiplied  the  real  number. 


96  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

ordered  out  even  larger  bodies  of  flankers,  and 
farther  away  from  the  main  body  in  the  high 
way.  The  march  along  the  Lexington  road  for 
a  little  more  than  a  mile  to  Meriam's  Corner, 
was  uneventful,  but  at  that  place  the  struggle 
was  renewed.  There  the  men  of  Concord, 
Acton,  Lincoln,  and  Bedford,  came  within  rifle 
shot  of  the  highway.  They  had  passed  along 
the  Great  Meadow,  so  called,  northerly  from 
the  range  of  hills  near  the  highway,  and  reached 
Meriam's  Corner  at  about  the  same  time  that 
Smith  did. 

New  American  forces  joined  the  contest  here 
also.  Billerica  sent  Lieut.  Crosby  with  twelve 
men;  Capt.  Edward  Farmer,  thirty-five  men; 
and  Capt.  Jonathan  Stickney,  fifty-four  men. 
Chelmsford  sent  Capt.  Oliver  Barron,  sixty-one 
men,  and  Lieut.  Moses  Parker's  company, 
forty-three  men.  Framingham  sent  Capt. 
Simon  Edgett,  seventy-six  men;  Capt.  Jesse 
Ernes,  twenty-four  men;  Capt.  Micajab  Glea- 
son,  forty-nine  men.*  Reading  sent,  Capt. 
John  Bacheller,  sixty-one  men;  Capt.  Thomas 
Eaton,  sixty-three  men;  Capt.  John  Flint, 
seventy-nine  men,  and  Capt.  John  Walton, 
eighty-eight  men.  Some  of  the  Reading  com 
panies,  at  least,  marched  from  home  under 
Major,  afterwards  Governor,  John  Brooks. 
Rev.  Edmund  Foster  accompanied  Capt.  Bach- 
eller's  company,  as  a  volunteer,  and  has  left  an 
interesting  narrative  of  what  he  saw.  Sudbury 
sent  Capt.  Nathan  Cudworth,  forty  men;  Capt. 
Aaron  Haynes,  thirty-nine  men;  Capt.  Isaac 
Locker,  thirty  men;  Capt.  John  Nixon,  fifty- 


*  Massachusetts  Archives. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  97 

four  men;  Capt.  Joseph  Smith,  forty-nine  men, 
and  Capt.  Moses  Stone,  twenty-five  men.  Wo- 
burn  sent  Capt.  Samuel  Belknap,  sixty-six  men; 
Capt.  Jonathan  Fox,  seventy-two  men;  and 
Capt.  Joshua  Walker,  one  hundred  and  sixteen 
men. 

The  American  reinforcements  coming  in  at 
Meriam's  Corner  numbered  eleven  hundred 
and  thirty-seven,  making  a  total  of  fifteen 
hundred  and  sixty-five  enrolled  men  in 
the  ranks  of  the  Provincials  if  all  at  the 
North  Bridge  still  remained  in  the  fight. 

There  were  many  other  minute-men  anxious  to 
be  in  the  first  struggle,  but  who  lived  too  faraway. 
Stow  sent  a  company  of  militia  belonging  to 
Col.  Prescott's  regiment,  commanded  by  Capt. 
William  WTiitcomb,  numbering  eighty-one  men. 
They  did  not  reach  North  Bridge  until  about 
noon,  too  late  to  be  in  the  action  there,  but  in 
ample  time  to  be  active  in  the  pursuit.  We  are 
told  that  another  company  from  Stow  under 
Capt.  Hapgood,  also  joined,  but  I  find  no 
returns  in  the  Massachusetts  State  Archives. 

Three  companies  from  Westford  reached  the 
North  Bridge  too  late,  but  were  active  after 
wards.  They  were  respectively  under  the 
command  of  Capt.  Oliver  Bates,  thirty-six  men; 
Capt.  Jonathan  Minot,  thirty-six  men;  and 
Capt.  Joshua  Parker,  forty-one  men. 

As  the  Reading  men  came  along  the  road  from 
Bedford,  and  nearing  Meriam's  Corner,  they 
discovered  the  flank  guard  of  the  British  just 
descending  the  ridge  of  hills.  There  were  from 
eighty  to  one  hundred  red-coats,  and  they  were 
marching  slowly  and  deliberately  down  the  hill, 
without  music  and  without  words.  The  Ameri- 


98  THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

cans  were  but  a  little  over  three  hundred  feet 
away.  They  halted  and  remained  in  silence 
watching  their  foes.  The  British  flankers  soon 
gained  the  main  road,  at  the  Corner,  and  passed 
along  a  few  hundred  feet  towards  Lincoln  and 
Lexington,  over  the  little  bridge  that  spans 
Mill  Brook.  The  Americans  gathered  around 
the  Meriam  house.  As  the  British  passed  the 
bridge  they  wheeled  suddenly  and  fired  in 
volley,  but  too  high,  so  no  one  was  struck. 
Then  the  Americans  returned  the  fire  with 
better  aim,  and  two  Britons  fell  on  the  easterly 
side  of  the  little  stream,  while  several  were 
wounded,  among  them  Ensign  Lester  of  the 
Tenth  Regiment.* 

Less  than  half  a  mile  along  that  road,  from 
Meriam's  Corner,  is  the  northerly  corner  of 
the  town  of  Lincoln.  Along  on  the  edge  of 
Lincoln  the  highway  continues  ;  still  in  an 
easterly  direction,  for  less  than  another  half 
mile,  this  stretch  being  on  rather  higher 
ground,  the  northerly  side  of  the  road  in 
Concord,  the  southerly  side  in  Lincoln.  On 
the  Lincoln  side  is  the  Brooks  Tavern  (still 
standing,  1912).  This  little  elevation  is  called 
Hardy's  Hill,  and  is  about  sixty  feet  higher  than 
Concord  village,  f  Along  the  summit  the  skir 
mishing  was  actively  renewed,  and  continued 
down  its  easterly  slope  into  Lincoln. 

This  ended  the  struggle  in  Concord,  but  her 
sons  and  the  others  were  not  mindful  of  the 
boundary  line.  To  them  it  was  more  than  the 
Battle  of  Concord;  it  was  the  Battle  of  April 
Nineteenth. 


*  Rev.  Edmund  Foster  and  Ensign  De  Bernicre. 
t  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  1886. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.  99 

The  patriots  who  died  in  Concord  were  Capt. 
Isaac  Davis,  and  private  Abner  Hosmer,  both 
of  Acton.  The  wounded  were  Luther  Blanch- 
ard  and  Ezekiel  Davis  also  of  Acton;  Jonas 
Brown  of  Concord  and  Joshua  Brooks  of 
Lincoln.  These  were  all  at  the  North  Bridge. 
Abel  Fresco tt,  Jr.,  of  Concord  was  wounded  while 
in  the  village.  The  British  killed  were  two 
privates  at  North  Bridge,  and  two  at  Meriam's 
Corner  bridge.  Their  wounded  were  Lieut. 
Gould  of  the  Fourth  Regiment,  Lieut.  Kelly  of 
the  Tenth  Regiment,  Lieut.  Sutherland  of  the 
Thirty-eighth,  and  Lieut.  Hull  of  the  Forty- 
third,  and  a  number  of  privates;  all  at  the 
North  Bridge.  At  the  little  bridge  near  Meri 
am's  Corner  Ensign  Lester  of  the  Tenth 
Regiment  and  several  privates  were  wounded. 

LIEUT.-COL.  SMITH'S  RETREAT 
THROUGH  LINCOLN. 

At  the  foot  of  the  easterly  slope  of  Hardy's 
Hill  is  a  little  stream  crossing  the  road  in  a 
northerly  direction.  It  is  in  Lincoln,  and  on 
most  maps  is  put  down  as  Mill  Brook,  the 
same  that  curves  around  and  crosses  the  road 
near  Meriam's  Corner,  rather  more  than  a  mile 
back.  At  Hardy's  Hill  it  has  sometimes  been 
called  Tanner's  Brook.* 

The  British  had  now  reached  this  point,  and 
were  marching  rapidly,  keeping  their  flankers 
out  parallel  to  the  highway. 

Over  the  bridge  and  up  another  slight  rise 
and  then  the  road  turns  at  a  sharp  angle  to  the 
left,  northeasterly,  to  still  higher  ground  about 

*Frothingham's  Siege  of  Boston.     Rev.  Mr.  Foster's  Account. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          101 

eighty  feet  higher  than  Concord  village.  On 
the  northwesterly  side  of  that  road  was  a  heavy 
growth  of  trees  and  on  the  opposite  side  a 
younger  growth.  On  each  side  of  the  road,  in 
those  two  forest  growths,  many  American 
minute- men  were  posted.*  They  had  antici 
pated  the  passing  of  the  British,  by  hurrying 
across  the  Great  Fields,  so  called,  from  the 
Bedford  Road  near  Meriam's  Corner.  Among 
these  were  the  Bedford  company  under  Capt. 
Willson.  This  forest  lined  road  was  only  about 
a  half  of  a  mile  in  extent  before  it  turned  again 
to  the  eastward. 

When  the  foremost  British  reached  this 
location  the  Americans  poured  in  a  deadly 
volley,  that  killed  eight  and  wounded  many 
others. 

The  contest  was  by  no  means  one-sided. 
The  attention  of  the  Americans  here,  as  all 
along  the  line  to  Charles  town,  was  too  firmly 
fixed  on  the  ranks  of  the  enemy  marching  in 
the  road.  The  British  flankers  were  unnoticed 
and  unthought  of.  Silently  and  rapidly  they 
swung  along,  on  their  parallel  lines,  and  very 
often  closed  in  on  those  little  tell-tale  puffs  of 
smoke  that  arose  behind  the  trees  and  walls, 
and  among  the  bowlders.  Thus  were  many 
Americans  surprised  and  slain  —  more,  probably 
twice  or  thrice  over,  than  were  killed  by  the 
soldiers  in  the  highway. 

It  was  at  this  bloody  angle  of  Battle  Road, 
that  Capt.  Jonathan  Willson  of  Bedford  met  his 
death.  And  so  did  Nathaniel  Wyman,  a  native 
of  Billerica,  but  a  member  of  Capt.  Parker's 
Company.  Daniel  Thompson,  of  Woburn,  was 

*  Foster's  Account. 


102         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

also  killed  here.  Another  son  of  Bedford,  Job 
Lane,  was  severely  wounded  and  disabled  for 
life.* 

The  next  day  five  of  the  British  killed  were 
removed  to  the  little  cemetery,  near  Lincoln 
village  several  miles  away,  for  burial.  Not 
many  years  ago  the  Town  of  Lincoln  caused  to 
be  placed  over  their  common  grave,  a  neat  and 
appropriately  lettered  Memorial  Stone. 

After  the  northeasterly  angle  the  road  turns 
again  easterly  towards  Lexington.  Half  or 
three  quarters  of  a  mile  along  are  the  two 
Hartwell  houses,  still  standing  (1912),  on  the 
northerly  side  of  the  road,  and  but  a  few 
hundred  feet  apart. 

In  the  westerly,  or  first  one,  lived  Sergt. 
John  Hartwell,  and  in  the  easterly  one,  Sergt. 
Samuel  Hartwell,  both  members  of  Capt. 
Smith's  Lincoln  Company.  Both  were  absent 
on  duty  then,  but  the  wife  of  Samuel  was  at 
home.  She  has  furnished  a  vivid  narrative  of 
what  she  saw  and  experienced,  that  afternoon 
and  the  following  morning.  Her  first  alarm  of 
the  coming  Britons  was  reports  of  musketry, 
seemingly  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Brooks  Tavern. 
Then  nearer  and  nearer,  to  the  bloody  angle. 
Then  the  hurrying  red-coats  themselves,  anxious 
and  wild  in  their  demeanor,  as  they  hurried 
along  past  her  house.  And  how  one,  in  his 
insane  anger,  fired  into  their  garret,  though  he 
could  see  no  foeman  there.f 

For  another  mile  along  the  Lincoln  road  the 


*Stearnsf  Jonathan  F.  Bedford  Sesqui-Centennial,  page  26. 
Ripley,  page  21,  seems  to  think  that  Lane  was  wounded  a  little 
farther  along  at  the  Hartwell  barn. 

t  Beneath  Old  Roof  Trees,  by  Abram  English  Brown,    page    221 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          103 

British  must  have  had  some  relief,  for  the 
country  is  comparatively  level,  the  fields  extend 
ing  away  smoothly  on  either  side.  It  was  not 
a  complete  lull  in  the  battle,  however,  for  an 
American  bullet  terminated  the  life  of  one 
Briton  at  least.  The  remains  were  uncovered 
a  few  years  ago  when  the  road  builders  were 
widening  and  grading  anew  the  highway.  He 
was  re-interred  over  the  bordering  wall  in  the 
field  to  the  southwest  of  the  highway,  a  short 
distance  westerly  from  Folly  Pond,* 

Then  comes  an  easterly  bend  in  the  road, 
though  still  continuing  nearly  level,  and  for 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  to  the  Nelson  house*  t 
Here  lived  Josiah  Nelson,  the  Lincoln  patriot, 
who,  as  we  have  written,  alarmed  his  neighbors 
in  Bedford  the  night  before.  Around  it  were 
many  picturesque  bowlders,  large  enough  to 
shelter  venturesome  minute-men.  And  they 
were  there.  William  Thorning,  one  of  Capt. 
Smith's  Lincoln  company,  had  fired  on  the 
British  from  some  hiding  place  in  this  neighbor 
hood,  and  they  had  returned  his  fire  and  chased 
him  into  the  \voods.  As  he  was  thus  escaping 
the  main  body,  he  met  the  ever  vigilant  flank- 
guard,  and  but  narrowly  escaped  them  also. 
Later  as  they  passed  along,  he  advanced  to  one 
of  the  Nelson  bowlders  and  fired  again,  at  the 
British,  probably  with  fatal  effect.  Across  the 
road  from  the  house  is  a  little  knoll  which  is 


*  Statement  of  Mr.  George  Nelson,  near-by  resident,  who  saw 
the  remains  and  pointed  out  to  me  in  1890  the  locations  of  the 
old  and  new  graves. 

t  Standing  until  a  few  years  ago,  although  in  a  shattered  con 
dition.  It  had  been  abandoned  as  a  habitation  for  many  years. 
A  conflagration  completed  its  destruction,  and  now  only  the  scar  of 
its  cellar-hole,  and  a  pile  of  bricks  that  formed  its  mammoth  chim 
ney  and  hospitable  hearth,  mark  where  it  stood. 


104          THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

called  "The  Soldiers'  Graves,"*  even  to  this 
day,  for  therein  sleep  two  British  soldiers  whose 
summons  undoubtedly  came  from  behind  the 
Nelson  bowlders. 

About  a  sixth  of  a  mile  yet  farther  along, 
stood  the  home  of  Samuel  Hastings,  near  the 
Lexington  boundary  line,  yet  within  the  town 
of  Lincoln.  Hastings  was  a  member  of  Capt. 
Parker's  Lexington  Company,  f  and  was  present 
and  in  line  for  action  when  Pitcairn  gave  that 
first  order  to  fire.  As  the  British  column  swept 
along,  one  of  the  soldiers  left  the  ranks  and 
entered  the  house  for  plunder,  unmindful  of 
the  dangers  lurking  in  the  adjoining  woods  and 
fields.  As  he  emerged  and  stood  on  the  door- 
stone,  an  American  bullet  met  him,  and  he 
sank  seriously  wounded.  There  he  lay,  until 
the  family  returned  later  in  the  afternoon,  and 
found  him.  Tenderly  they  carried  him  into 
the  house,  and  ministered  to  his  wants  as  best 
they  could,  but  his  wound  was  fatal.  After  his 
death  they  found  some  of  their  silver  spoons  in 
his  pocket.  He  was  buried  a  short  distance 
westerly  from  the  house. J 

It  was  in  Lincoln  that  Captain  Parker's 
Lexington  Company,  numbering  in  all  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty  men,  again  went  into  the  action, 
probably  not  far  from  the  Nelson  and  Hastings 
homes;  and  also  the  Cambridge  Company 


*  Statement  to  me  in  1890,  of  Mr.  Nelson,  owner  of  the  old 
ruins  with  the  surrounding  fields,  and  who  pointed  out  "The  Soldiers* 
Graves." 

f  See  his  deposition  in  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress  of 
Mass.,  but  I  do  not  find  his  name  in  any  other  place  as  a  member. 

J  I  am  indebted  to  the  great-grandchildren  of  Samuel  Hastings, 
Cornelius  and  Charles  A.  Wellington,  for  this  statement.  They  were 
residents  of  Lexington,  but  since  both  have  died. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          105 

under  Capt.  Samuel  Thatcher,  seventy-seven 
men,  joined  the  pursuit  from  there.* 

The  American  fatalities  in  Lincoln,  as  we 
have  seen,  were  Capt.  Jonathan  Willson,  of 
Bedford;  Nathaniel  Wyman  of  Billerica,  who 
was  a  member  of  Capt.  Parker's  Lexington 
Company;  and  Daniel  Thompson  of  Woburn. 
Job  Lane  of  Bedford  was  slightly  wounded. 

The  exact  British  loss  in  Lincoln  cannot  be 
stated.  It  is  known  that  eight  were  killed  at 
the  Bloody  Angle,  and  at  least  four  more  along 
the  road  from  there  to  the  Hastings  house. 
Many  were  wounded  but  no  statement  or 
estimate  has  ever  been  given.  The  distance 
across  that  part  of  the  town  is  about  two  miles, 
and  the  fighting  severe  for  more  than  half  the 
way. 

LIEUT.-COL.  SMITH'S  RETREAT 
TO  LEXINGTON  VILLAGE. 

As  the  British  forces  again  invaded  Lexington 
soil  undoubtedly  they  looked  for  vengeance 
from  the  hands  of  the  little  band  that  stood 
before  them  in  the  early  morning.  If  they  did 
anticipate  as  much  they  were  not  disappointed, 
for  as  we  have  stated  Captain  Parker  and  his 
men  had  come  out  into  the  edge  of  Lincoln  to 
meet  them. 

Just  over  the  line  into  Lexington,  and  a  few 
rods  north  of  the  road,  the  land  rises  about 
fifty  feet  rather  abruptly  and  with  a  ledgy 
face.  This  little  summit  commands  a  grand 
view  up  and  down  the  road,  for  quite  a  distance, 
and  therefore  was  an  ideal  location  for  the  minute- 

*  See  Massachusetts  State  Archives  where  twenty-eight  miles 
is  the  distance  charged  for  by  most  of  his  men. 


106         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

men.  Many  were  there  awaiting  the  passing 
of  the  British,  and  when  they  were  opposite,, 
poured  down  on  them  a  volley.  At  least  one 
fell,  an  officer,  for  a  few  years  ago  a  sword  was 
taken  up  from  the  depth  of  about  four  feet, 
evidently  from  his  grave.  It  was  almost  con 
sumed  with  rust,  but  enough  remaining  to 
identify  it  as  of  British  make  and  of  that  period. 
The  reports  of  muskets,  and  little  puffs  of  blue 
smoke  betrayed  the  location  of  the  marksmen, 
and  the  British  at  once  returned  the  fire.  Their 
aim  was  without  effect.  One  of  their  bullets 
flattened  against  the  ledge,  and  wras  also  found 
by  the  present  owner  of  the  land,  buried  in  the 
decayed  leaves  and  refuse  at  the  base  of  the 
ledge.* 

Not  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  farther 
along  the  road,  stood  Bull's  Tavern,  f  in  later 
times  known  as  Viles  Tavern.  Nothing  now 
remains  of  it  but  the  cellar-hole  and  that  is  not 
so  deep  as  once.  The  soldiers  ransacked  the 
house  for  food  and  drink,  but  left  no  recom 
pense.  A  few  rods  more  the  road  turns  north 
easterly  around  a  bluff  twenty  feet  high,  per 
haps.  The  struggle  was  renewed  there  furiously,, 
for  the  British  flankers  could  not  manoeuvre  to 
protect  the  main  column  so  well,  and  they 
suffered  severely  for  half  a  mile  or  more  towards 
Fiske  Hill.  Lieut.-Col.  Smith  was  wounded 


*  The  sword  and  bullet  were  found  by  Mr.  John  Lannon  about 
1895,  and  from  whom  I  obtained  them.  He  was  then  as  now  owner 
of  the  farm.  In  removing  a  bowlder  from  his  garden  it  was  nec 
essary  to  dig  around  it  and  on  one  side  to  a  depth  of  about  four 
feet.  There  he  found  the  sword  and  a  little  of  its  rust-eaten 
scabbard,  and  quite  likely  in  the  grave  by  the  side  of  its  wearer. 
The  bullet  once  round,  now  not  half  that,  had  struck  the  ledge 
rather  than  the  American  on  its  summit,  and  fell  harmlessly  at  the 
base. 

fRev.  Mr.  Foster  called  it  Benjamin's  Tavern. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          107 

by  a  bullet  passing  through  his  leg.*  Major 
Pitcairn's  horse  becoming  unmanageable  through 
fright,  threw  him  to  the  ground,  and  escaped 
into  the  American  lines,  where  he  was  captured, 
together  with  equipments,  including  the  Major's 
beautiful  brace  of  pistols,  f 

Many  British  were  wounded,  and  many 
killed,  along  this  part  of  Battle  Road.  A  little 
way  from  the  bluff,  over  the  wall  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  road  and  in  a  southerly  direction, 
are  graves  of  two.  No  memorial  stone  marks 
the  exact  spot,  and  even  the  mounds,  too,  have 
long  since  dissolved  away.} 

The  contending  forces  were  now  climbing 
Fiske  Hill,  about  sixty  feet  higher  than  the 
bluff.**  The  road  at  that  time  passed  higher 
up  than  at  present,  and  near  the  summit 
fighting  was  more  severe  again.  One  Briton, 
at  least,  fell  there  and  was  buried  in  the  little 
strip  of  ground  between  the  old  and  new  road. 


*De  Bernicre's  Account. 

t  The  accoutrements  were  taken  to  Concord  and  later  sold  by 
auction.  Capt.  Nathan  Barrett  bought  the  pistols,  beautiful  ones, 
with  elaborately  chased  silver  mountings,  with  Pitcairn's  name 
engraved  thereon.  Capt.  Barrett  offered  them  to  Gen.  Washington, 
who  declined  them,  and  then  to  Gen.  Putnam,  who  carried  them 
through  the  war.  They  were  brought  to  Lexington  on  Centennial 
Day,  April  19,  1875,  for  exhibition  by  Rev.  S.  I.  Prime,  D.D.,  on 
behalf  of  the  owner,  a  widow  of  John  P.  Putnam,  of  Cambridge, 
N.  Y.,  who  was  the  grandson  of  Gen.  Putnam  and  to  whom  they 
descended.  Later  Mrs.  Putnam  gave  them  to  the  town  of  Lex 
ington  and  they  are  now  on  exhibition  by  the  Lexington  Historical 
Society  (See  Handbook  of  Lexington,  1891.)  Rev.  William  Emerson 
of  Concord,  requested  of  the  Third  Provincial  Congress,  June  1, 
1775,  the  use  of  a  horse,  probably  Pitcairn's,  which  they  granted 
specifying  one  captured  from  a  regular  by  Isaac  Kittredge,  of  Tewks- 
bury,  Capt.  Nathan  Barrett,  and  Henry  Flint,  of  Concord,  Mr. 
Emerson  to  pay  a  reasonable  price  for  its  keeping  up  to  that  time. 

J  Statement  to  me  by  the  late  Rev.  Carlton  A.  Staples. 
**  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  1886. 


108         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

A  heap  of  small  stones  once  marked  the  spot, 
but  they  have  disappeared.* 

Down  the  easterly  slope  of  Fiske  Hill  stands 
a  modest  little  farmhouse,  on  the  southerly  side 
of  the  road.  It  was  then  the  home  of  Benjamin 
Fiske.  The  entire  family  had  fled,  and  the 
stragglers  from  the  British  columns  entered  for 
pillage.  One  in  his  greed  stayed  too  long. 
Brave  James  Hay  ward  of  Acton,  willing  to  fight 
though  exempt  from  military  service  because 
of  a  partially  dismembered  foot,  met  him  at  the 
door,  laden  with  booty.  The  Briton  recog 
nized  in  Hay  ward  an  enemy,  and  raising  his 
gun,  exclaimed, 

"You  are  a  dead  man!" 

"And  so  are  you,"  responded  Hay  ward  as  he 
raised  his  gun  also.  Both  fired  —  both  fell,  the 
British  instantly  killed  and  Hayward  mortally 
wounded,  the  ball  piercing  his  bullet-pouch  and 
entering  his  side.  He  lived  eight  hours  and 
was  conscious  to  the  last.  Calling  for  his 
powder  horn  and  bullet-pouch,  he  remarked 
that  he  started  with  one  pound  of  powder  and 
forty  bullets.  A  very  little  powder  and  two  or 
three  balls  were  all  that  were  left. 

"You  see  what  I  have  been  about,"  he  ex 
claimed,  calling  attention  to  the  slight  remainder. 
"I  am  not  sorry;  I  die  willingly  for  my  coun 
try,  "f  And  so  Concord  and  Lexington,  too, 
reverently  treasure  the  memory  of  brave  Acton 
men,  whose  life  blood  stained  the  soil  of  each. 


*  Statement  of  H.  M.  Houghton  to  the  Rev.  Carlton  A.  Staples, 
who  so  informed  me.  Mr.  Houghton  lived  in  that  vicinity  during 
his  boyhood  and  furnished  a  roughly  sketched  plan  to  Mr.  Staples. 

t  James  Fletcher's  History  of  Acton,  in  Kurd's  History  of 
Middlesex  County. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          109 

Up  the  westerly  slope  of  Concord  Hill,  an 
elevation  named  after  her  sister  town,  marched 
the  British.  Their  ranks  were  broken  and 
disordered.  Many  had  been  wounded,  many 
had  been  killed,  and  many  had  fallen  exhausted 
by  the  wayside.  It  was  then  about  half  past 
one  o'clock,  and  they  had  marched  rather  more 
than  twenty-three  miles.  At  that  time  their 
ammunition  began  to  give  out,  which  added  to 
their  discomfiture.  Their  enemies  seemed  to 
be  countless  and  everywhere.  De  Bernicre, 
the  spy,  who  was  with  them,  has  left  a  vivid 
word  picture  of  how  anxious  they  were  getting. 
"There  could  not  be  less  than  5,000,"  he  says 
in  his  account,  "so  they  kept  the  road  always 
lined,  and  a  very  hot  fire  on  us  without  inter 
mission.  .  .  .  VVe  began  to  run  rather  than 
retreat  in  order."  Lieut. -Col.  Smith,  says,  in 
his  report,  that  the  firing  on  his  troops,  which 
began  in  Concord,  "increased  to  a  very  great 
degree  and  continued  without  the  intermission 
of  five  minutes,  altogether  for  I  believe  upwards 
of  eighteen  miles." 

Such  was  the  impression  on  the  minds  of 
Smith,  and  his  weary  soldiers  as  they  hurried 
along  down  Fiske  Hill  and  up  Concord  HilL 
If  he  entertained  any  idea  of  surrendering, 
though  I  have  no  evidence  that  he  did,  he  must 
have  realized  the  hopelessness  of  that,  for  no 
one  seemed  to  be  commanding  the  multitude 
before  him,  beside  him,  and  behind  him.  They 
constituted  a  large  circle  of  individuals,  but 
made  no  attempt  to  stay  his  march  or  guide  it 
in  any  way.  They  just  followed  along,  seem 
ingly  intent  only  on  hunting  down  the  King's 
soldiers.  Had  some  master  mind  been  in  charge 


110         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

of  the  patriot  army,  Smith's  entire  force  could 
easily  have  been  taken  prisoners.  But  this  was 
the  first  day  of  the  war,  and  was  only  a  contest 
between  soldiers  and  citizens.  And  so  Smith 
was  allowed  to  march  along. 

Near  the  foot  of  the  westerly  slope  of  Concord 
Hill  stood  the  home  of  Thaddeus  Reed.*  He 
was  one  of  Captain  Parker's  Company.  After 
the  British  passed  along  the  Americans  picked 
up  three  severely  wounded  soldiers  and  carried 
them  into  the  house,  where  they  all  died.  They 
were  buried  not  far  away,  a  few  feet  westerly 
of  Wood  St.,  on  the  northerly  side  of  a  stone 
wall  still  standing,  and  but  a  few  rods  from 
Battle  Road.  Their  graves  are  unmarked  and 
almost  unknown.f 

The  British  flankers  were  now  so  thoroughly 
tired  out  that  they  could  hardly  act  in  that 
capacity,  and  were  of  but  little  use  as  protectors 
of  the  main  body.  The  severely  wounded  were 
abandoned  to  some  extent.  Many  of  the 
slightly  wounded  were  carried  along  somehow, 
but  they  greatly  impeded  the  march.  Hopes 
of  reinforcements  were  practically  abandoned.  J 

And  so  they  proceeded  up  the  hill,  the  sum 
mit  of  which  is  fully  forty  feet  higher  than 
Fiske  Hill  and  at  least  eighty  feet  higher  than 
Lexington  Common,**  now  in  view  less  than  a 
mile  away.  They  must  have  been  anxious  to 
reach  and  pass  that  little  field.  Down  the 
easterly  slope  of  Concord  Hill  they  almost  ran, 

*  See  Foster's  Narrative. 

t  The  exact  spot  was  pointed  out  to  me  by  the  late  Rev.  Carlton 
A.  Staples,  Sept.  11,  1900,  who  received  his  information  accom 
panied  by  a  plan  from  H.  M.  Houghton. 

|  Diary  of  a  British  Officer  in  Boston  in  1775,  who  was  a  member 
•of  the  expedition. 

**  U.  S.  Geological  Surveys,  1898,  1900. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19    1775.          Ill 

in  more  or  less  confusion  and  intense  excite 
ment.  The  Americans  were  actively  keeping 
up  their  firing,  and  so  more  Britons  were  killed 
and  wounded,  three  of  the  latter  so  severely  that 
they  were  abandoned  by  their  fellow  soldiers, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Americans  and  were 
taken  into  Buckman  Tavern.*  One  subse 
quently  died  and  was  buried  with  the  British 
slain  in  the  old  cemetery  near  by.  Their  graves 
are  unmarked. f 

The  British  did  not  stop  to  disperse  any 
rebels  on  Lexington  Common,  for  none  were 
there  to  oppose  their  retreat,  but  passed  off  the 
south-easterly  point,  as  the  Americans  came 
promptly  after  them  on  the  northwesterly  side. 
It  was  between  two  and  three  o'clcok  when  they 
reached  the  site  of  the  present  Lexington  High 
School,  a  trifle  more  than  half  a  mile  from  the 
Common.  There  they  met  the  long-wished  for 
reinforcements,  under  Lord  Percy,  who  opened 
his  ranks,  and  enclosed  them  in  his  protecting 
care.  Many  sank  immediately  into  the  road 
where  they  halted,  for  their  physical  condition 
was  pitiful  in  the  extreme.  One  of  the  con 
temporary  English  historians,  an  officer  in  the 
British  Army  in  America,  has  described  them 
as  lying  prone  on  the  ground,  like  dogs  with 
protruding  tongues.  { 

Percy  then  quickly  wheeled  about  his  two 
field  pieces,**  and  opened  fire  up  the  road, 
towards  the  Common,  where  he  could  see  the 


*  Foster's  Account.     E.  P.  Bliss  gives  the  number  as  two,  in  Lex 
ington  Hist.  Soc.,  I,  75. 

t  E.  P.  Bliss,  in  Lexington  Historical  Society,  I,  75. 
t  C.  Stedman.     History  of  the  Origin,   Progress,  and  Termina 
tion  of  the  American  War.     London,  1794. 

*  *  Percy's  Report  to  Gen.  Gage. 


112         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

Americans  were  gathered.  It  was  not  fatal  in 
its  effect,  but  served  to  scatter  them  and  do 
considerable  damage  to  the  meeting-house,  one 
ball  passing  through  it.  Col.  Loammi  Baldwin, 
of  Woburn,  was  one  who  had  been  standing  in 
sight  of  the  British,  but  he  sought  shelter  be 
hind  the  sacred  edifice  when  he  realized  the 
enemy  had  opened  fire  with  artillery.  When 
a  ball  passed  through  the  meeting-house  and 
came  out  near  his  head  he  retreated  north 
westerly  to  the  meadow.* 

Not  many  of  the  Americans  had  been  killed 
thirs  far,  in  the  retreat  of  the  British  through 
Lexington.  We  have  spoken  of  James  Hay- 
ward  of  Acton,  killed  on  the  easterly  side  of 
Fiske  Hill,  and  must  add  the  name  of  Deacon 
Josiah  Haynes  of  Capt.  Nixon's  Sudbury  Com 
pany,  who  met  his  death  somewhere  along  the 
road  from  Fiske  Hill  to  Lexington  Common. f 
He  was  a  venerable  man,  in  his  seventy-ninth 
year,  f  and  had  marched  from  his  home  down 
to  Concord  village,  up  through  Lincoln,  and 
into  Lexington.  He  was  thoroughly  in  earnest 
in  his  work  of  driving  the  British  back  to 
Boston,  and  in  an  unguarded  moment  exposed 
himself  to  one  of  the  King's  riflemen. 

On  the  Lexington  part  of  Battle  Road,  many 
British  were  killed  and  many  wounded.  Among 
the  latter  were  Lieut.  Hawkshaw,  Lieut.  Cox, 
and  Lieut.  Baker,  all  of  the  Fifth  Regiment; 
Ensign  Baldwin  and  Lieut.  McCloud,  of  the 
Forty-seventh  Regiment;  and  Captain  Souter 

*  The  damage  to  the  meeting-house  by  the  cannon  ball  cost  the 
Town  of  Lexington  to  repair  £l  Is.  Rev.  C.  A.  Staples  in  Lex 
ington  Historical  Society,  I,  21. 

t  Ripley. 

J  Hudson's  History  of  Sudbury. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIJL  19,  1775.          113 

and  Lieut.  Potter  of  the  Marines.*  I  have 
previously  mentioned  the  wounding  of  the  com 
mander,  Lieut. -Col.  Smith,  on  the  westerly 
slope  of  Fiske  Hill. 

After  the  British  had  departed  from  Lexing 
ton  immediate  attention  was  given  to  the  Lex 
ington  patriot  dead  who  were  slain  on  the 
Common  in  the  early  morning.  From  the  field 
of  battle  they  had  been  borne  to  the  meeting 
house,  and  there  a  simple  service  held  over  them, 
consisting  of  a  prayer  by  Rev.  Jonas  Clarke. 
Then  they  were  carried  to  the  little  church 
yard,  where  one  broad  grave  received  them  all. 
It  had  been  a  day  of  terror  in  Lexington,  and 
some  fear  was  felt  that  the  enemy  might  return 
and  wreak  yet  further  vengeance,  even  upon 
the  dead.  So  the  grave  was  made  in  a  remote 
part  of  the  yard,  near  the  woods,  and  the  fresh 
mound  of  earth  itself  hidden  beneath  branches 
cut  from  the  neighboring  trees,  f  And  not  for- 


*  De  Bernicre. 

t  "Father  sent  Jonas  down  to  Grandfather  Cook's  to  see  who  was 
killed  and  what  their  condition  was  and,  in  the  afternoon,  Father, 
Mother  with  me  and  the  Baby  went  to  the  Meeting  House,  there 
was  the  eight  men  that  was  killed,  seven  of  them  my  Father's 
parishioners,  one  from  Woburn,  all  in  Boxes  made  of  four  large 
Boards  Nailed  up  and,  after  Pa  had  prayed,  they  were  put  into 
two  horse  carts  and  took  into  the  grave  yard  where  your  Grand 
father  and  some  of  the  Neighbors  had  made  a  large  trench,  as  near 
the  Woods  as  possible  and  there  we  followed  the  bodies  of  those 
first  slain,  Father,  Mother,  I  and  the  Baby,  there  I  stood  and  there 
I  saw  them  let  down  into  the  ground,  it  was  a  little  rainey  but  we 
waited  to  see  them  covered  up  with  the  Clods  and  then  for  fear 
the  British  should  find  them,  my  Father  thought  some  of  the 
men  had  best  Cut  some  pine  or  oak  bows  and  spread  them  on  their 
place  of  burial  so  that  it  looked  like  a  heap  of  Brush." 

I  am  indebted  to  the  Lexington  Historical  Society,  Proceedings, 
Vol.  IV,  page  92,  for  the  above  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  Miss 
Elizabeth  Clarke,  daughter  of  Rev.  Jonas  Clarke.  It  is  dated  from 
Lexington,  April  19,  1841,  and  written  to  her  niece,  Mrs.  Lucy  Ware 
Allen,  whose  mother  was  Mary,  another  daughter  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Clarke.  The  writer,  Miss  Elizabeth,  was  then  in  her  seventy- 
eighth  year.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  Asahel  Porter,  the  Woburn 
man,  was  buried  in  his  own  town.  Though  killed  near  the  Common 
he  was  not  one  of  Capt.  Parker's  Company. 


114         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

gotten  three  score  years  later,  their  grateful 
fellow  townsmen  removed  their  remains  to  the 
field  where  they  died,  and  erected  a  monument 
to  their  memory. 

EARL  PERCY  MARCHES  TO  REINFORCE 
LIEUT.-COL.  SMITH. 

As  the  command  of  Lieut. -Col.  Smith  will 
now  rest  for  a  brief  period,  let  us  go  back  to 
Boston  and  start  with  Earl  Percy,  on  his 
mission  to  reinforce  the  former,  and  consider 
his  delays  and  difficulties,  and  why  he  got  no 
farther  than  Lexington. 

As  we  have  seen,  it  was  between  two  and 
three  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  Smith 
reached  Arlington,  and  became 'atsirned  at  the 
increasing  attention  his  soldiers  were  attracting ; 
-  attention  that  seemed  to  him  hostile,  he 
despatched  back  to  Gen.  Gage  an  urgent  request 
for  reinforcements.  His  messenger  should  have 
reached  Gage  within  two  hours  easily,  for  to 
retrace  the  march  was  less  than  six  miles  by 
land  with  an  additional  half  a  mile  or  little 
more  by  boat  across  the  Charles  River.  So 
Gen.  Gage  should  have  had  Smith's  message 
by  five  o'clock,  at  least.  He  acted  promptly, 
by  ordering  the  First  Brigade,  consisting  of 
eight  companies  of  the  Fourth,  Twenty-third, 
and  Forty-seventh  Regiments,  under  arms,  and 
to  these  were  added  two  detachments  of  the 
Royal  Marines  to  be  under  Major  John  Pitcairn. 
Two  pieces  of  artillery,  six  pounders,  were  also 
added  to  the  force,  and  the  whole  placed  under 
the  command  of  Lord  Percy,  with  the  title,  for 
the  occasion,  of  Acting  Brigadier  General.  His 
little  army  numbered  about  one  thousand  men. 


ful'foAfd,  Se/ijr  30 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          115 

It  was  about  seven  o'clock  when  the  eight 
companies  assembled  on  Tremont  Street,  and 
the  line  extended  from  Scollay  Square  to  the 
lower  part  of  the  Common.  There  they 
waited  for  Pitcairn  and  his  Marines,  nearly 
two  hours.  Finally  it  dawned  upon  the  mind 
of  General  Gage  that  his  orders  to  that  worthy 
officer  might  still  be  lying  on  his  desk  unopened, 
for  he  had  been  granted  permission  to  accom 
pany  Lieut. -Col.  Smith  as  a  volunteer,  and 
perhaps  had  gone.  Such  proved  to  be  the  case 
and  the  two  hours  were  lost.  Then  another 
commander  for  them  was  selected,  and  they 
were  in  line  at  nine  o'clock.*  These  two  hours 
would  have  meant  Percy's  force  almost  into 
Concord  instead  of  into  Lexington  village,  and 
would  have  made  great  difference  in  the  results 
of  the  day's  fighting. 

Percy,  mounted  on  a  beautiful  white  horse, 
beaded  the  column,  and  they  proceeded  over 
Boston  Neck,  through  the  present  Washington 
Street,  to  Roxbury,  up  the  hill  to  the  meeting 
house,  then  to  the  right,  where  the  old  Parting 
Stone  then  stood,  even  as  it  does  to-day.  In 
Roxbury  his  soldiers  excited  the  attention  of  a 
very  young  patriot,  who  laughed  derisively  as 
the  musicians  played  "Yankee  Doodle."  Lord 
Percy  noticed  him  and  asked  the  reason  of  his 
mirth.  The  boy  responded: 

"To  think  how  you  will  dance  by-and-by  to 
Chevy  Chase." 

The  British  commander  felt  uncomfortable 
the  rest  of  the  day  because  of  the  suggestive 


*  Frothingham's  History  of  the  Siege  of  Boston. 


116         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

and  prophetic  reply.*  He  continued  into 
Brighton  and  to  the  westerly  bank  of  the 
Charles  River,  opposite  to  Harvard  Square  in 
Cambridge.  At  that  place  the  river  is  narrow 
and  thus  easily  bridged  even  in  those  early 
days,  and  over  that  was  then  the  only  way 
into  Boston  by  road  from  the  upper  towns  in 
Middlesex  County. 

The  Americans,  anticipating  Percy's  move 
ments,  had  taken  up  the  planks  of  the  bridge, 
but  did  not  continue  the  good  work  thoroughly, 
for  they  piled  them  handily  on  the  Cambridge 
side.  It  was  a  simple  matter  for  Percy's  en 
gineers  to  cross  over  on  the  stringers  and  re-lay 
enough  of  them  for  his  soldiers  to  pass  into 
Cambridge.  But  had  the  planks  been  farther 
removed  Percy  was  prepared  to  replace  them, 
for  he  had  brought  with  him  sufficient  for  the 
purpose  and  carpenters  to  do  the  work.  He 
anticipated  the  partial  destruction  of  the 
bridge  at  least,  and  prepared  his  remedy  accord 
ingly,  and  must  have  been  surprised  at  the 
point  where  the  Americans  concluded  their 
labors.  He  carried  his  planks  along  about  a 
mile  and  a  half,  and  then  sent  them  back  as  they 
were  only  an  encumbrance.  He  had  no  use  for 
them  on  his  return  for  he  had  another  plan,  as 
we  shall  see  later  on.f 

It  was  at  the  bridge  that  Percy  marched 
ahead  and  left  his  wagon  train  of  supplies  to 
follow  on,  as  soon  as  they  could  safely  cross. 


*  William  Gordon's  History  of  the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Estab 
lishment  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
N.  Y.,  1794.  Vol.  I,  page  312. 

f  Rev.  Isaac  Mansfield,  Jr.,  Chaplain  of  Gen.  Thomas's  Regi 
ment,  in  a  Thanksgiving  Sermon  in  Camp  at  Roxbury,  Nov.  23, 
1775.  See  Thornton's  Pulpit  of  the  American  Revolution,  page  236. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          117 

The  delay  to  them  was  considerable  and  so  the 
main  army  soon  passed  out  of  sight. 

The  round  about  route  the  British  had  taken 
to  reach  Harvard  Square  was  necessary,  at  that 
time,  because  as  we  have  stated,  no  bridge 
crossed  the  river  lower  down.  Could  he  have 
crossed  as  we  do  to-day,  the  distance  would  have 
been  but  a  little  over  three  miles,  whereas  it 
was  eight  miles  as  he  marched,  or  nearly  two 
hours  more  time.  He  could  not  cross  in  boats 
as  did  Lieut. -Col.  Smith,  for  two  reasons:  first, 
his  soldiers  were  too  many,  and  secondly,  the 
boats  were  even  then  moored  on  the  Cambridge 
side  awaiting  Smith's  return. 

When  Percy  reached  Cambridge,  he  was  some 
what  puzzled  to  know  just  which  way  to  start 
for  Lexington.  In  his  official  report  he  declares 
the  houses  were  all  shut  up  and  there  was  not  a 
single  inhabitant  to  give  him  any  information 
about  the  force  under  Smith.  He  did  find  one 
man,  Isaac  Smith,  a  tutor  in  Harvard  College, 
who  directed  him  along  the  right  highway. 
When  his  fellow  citizens  of  Cambridge  learned 
of  this  free  intelligence,  a  little  later  on,  they 
were  indignant  —  and  Isaac  Smith,  feeling 
reproved,  shortly  afterwards  left  the  country 
for  a  while.  It  does  not  appear  that  he  in 
tended  to  aid  and  abet  the  enemy,  but  granted 
the  little  courtesy  without  thinking  of  its  value. 
It  was  regretted  that  Percy  was  not  sent 
down  into  the  marshes  bordering  Willis  Creek, 
and  so  delayed  an  hour  or  more.* 

The  British  marched  rapidly  on  leaving 
Harvard  Square  and  were  soon  quite  a  distance 

*  Edward  Everett  Hale  in  Memorial  History  of  Boston.     Vol.  3. 


118         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

ahead  of  the  baggage  train,  deeming  it  safe  to 
leave  it  to  follow  under  the  guidance  of  a  ser 
geant's  guard  of  twelve  men.  It  was  no  small 
task  to  get  it  safely  over  the  dismantled  bridge, 
and  the  delay  there  was  considerable.  Vigilant 
Americans  watched  the  proceedings  and  realized 
the  opportunity  to  seize  it.  They  hurried  on 
to  Arlington  to  formulate  their  plans  for  its 
capture.  As  Cambridge  seemed  to  be  generally 
deserted,  the  sergeant  and  his  men  evidently 
felt  no  uneasiness  at  their  delay.  In  due  time, 
however,  they  were  on  the  march  again,  headed 
for  Lexington.* 

Not  long  after  they  passed  the  Charlestown 
road,  the  Beech  Street  of  today,  Dr.  Joseph 
Warren  and  his  friend  Dr.  Thomas  Welsh  came 
into  Cambridge.  Warren  lived  in  Boston,  and 
left  his  home  that  morning  and  crossed  the 
ferry  into  Charlestown.  There  he  met  Welsh 
and  many  other  citizens  and  communicated  to 
them  the  news  he  had  received  by  special 
messenger  from  Lexington.  It  was  then  about 
ten  o'clock.!  A  little  after,  he  and  Dr.  Welsh 
on  horseback,  were  on  their  way  to  Cambridge, 
where  they  arrived,  only  to  find  the  road  ahead 
occupied  by  the  baggage-train.  They  en 
deavored  to  pass  but  were  not  permitted  to  do 
so.  The  sergeant  inquired  of  Dr.  Warren  if  he 
knew  where  the  British  troops  then  were;  but 
the  doctor  could  only  give  a  negative  reply. 
There  seemed  to  be  quite  a  little  uneasiness  in 
the  minds  of  the  British,  as  they  evidently 
feared  they  were  too  widely  separated  from  the 


*  West  Cambridge  on  the  Nineteenth  of  April,  1775,  An  Address 
by  Samuel  Abbot  Smith,  Boston,  1864,  page  27. 

f  Frothingham's  Siege  of  Boston. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          119 

main  body  and  might  be  captured.*  A  guard 
of  twelve  men  is  not  a  large  force  to  conduct 
a  baggage-train  through  a  hostile  country. 
Percy's  first  and  most  serious  mistake  had  been 
committed.  It  was  then  noon-time,  or  a  little 
after. 

In  the  meantime  about  a  dozen  of  the  elderly 
men  of  Menotomy,  exempts  mostly,  assembled 
near  the  centre  of  the  village  and  waited  the 
arrival  of  the  baggage  train.  Among  them 
were  Jason  Belknap,  Joe  Belknap,  James  Budge, 
Israel  Mead,  Ammi  Cutter  and  David  Lamson, 
a  half  Indian.  Some  of  them  had  served  in 
the  French  War.  Rev.  Phillips  Payson,  A.  M., 
of  Chelsea,  was  also  present  and  took  an  active 
part.f  They  chose  Lamson  to  be  leader,  and 
took  a  position  behind  a  stone  wall  on  the  north 
erly  side  of  the  road,  nearly  opposite  the  First 
Parish  Meeting-House.  As  the  baggage-train 
appeared  nearly  opposite,  Lamson  ordered  his 
men  to  rest  and  aim  at  the  horses,  at  the  same 
time  calling  out  to  the  sergeant  to  surrender. 
He  made  no  reply,  and  his  driver  whipped  up 
the  horses  to  escape.  It  was  too  late,  for 
American  bullets  easily  stopped  them,  killed 
two  British  soldiers  and  wounded  several 
others.  J  The  soldiers  then  abandoned  their 
charge  and  ran  southerly  along  the  westerly 
shore  of  Spy  Pond,  as  far  as  Spring  Valley, 
where  they  came  upon  an  elderly  lady  of 
Menotomy,  known  as  Mother  Bathericke, 
engaged  in  digging  dandelions.  They  begged 
her  assistance  and  protection,  consequently  she 


*  Edward  Everett  Hale  in  Memorial  History  of  Boston,  Vol.  3. 
t  Brown's  Beneath  Old  Roof  Trees. 
J  Smith's  Address. 


120         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

conducted  them  to  the  house  of  Capt.  Ephraim 
Frost,  where  they  were  detained  as  prisoners,* 
and  probably  to  their  mental  relief.  They 
were  thoughtful  enough  not  to  include  their 
guns  in  the  surrender,  for  some  were  thrown  into 
Spy  Pond,  and  one  was  ruined  by  striking  it 
heavily  over  a  stone  wall  and  bending  it  hope 
lessly  out  of  shape. 

The  captured  wagons  were  drawn  down 
into  the  hollow,  still  to  be  seen  a  little  north 
easterly  of  the  present  Arlington  railroad 
station,  where  the  contents  were  distributed 
freely  to  all  comers.  The  living  horses  were 
driven  off  to  Medford,  and  the  bodies  of  the 
dead  ones,  in  accordance  with  the  suggestion 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gook,  who  feared  exciting  the 
anger  of  the  returning  British,  were  dragged 
away  to  the  field  near  Spring  Valley,  westerly 
of  Spy  Pond.  And  there,  for  many  years,  their 
bones  bleached  in  the  sun.| 

All  other  marks  of  the  contest  were  obliterated 
from  the  highway,  that  Percy  might  not  trace 
what  had  happened  to  his  baggage-wagons  and 
wreak  vengeance  upon  the  townspeople. 

Gen.  Percy  J  marched  less  than  two  miles 
beyond  Arlington  centre,  wrhen  he  distinctly 
heard  the  firing  in  Lexington.  He  was  not  far 
from  the  boundary  line  between  Arlington  and 
Lexington  and  the  time  was,  as  he  has  written, 
between  one  and  two  o'clock.**  At  about  that 


*  Smith's  Address.  Some  of  the  opposition  newspapers  in  Eng 
land  were  quite  merry  and  some  quite  sarcastic  over  the  surrender 
of  six  lusty  soldiers  to  one  old  woman,  and  inquired,  on  that  basis, 
how  many  British  troops  would  it  take  to  conquer  America  ? 

f  Smith's  Address. 

t  He  signed  his  official  report  to  Gen.  Gage,  "Percy,  Acting 
Brig.  Gen."  So  that  was  his  title  for  April  Nineteenth. 

**  .See  the  rough  or  preliminary  draft  of  his  report  to  Gage. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          121 

time  he  met  Lieut.  Gould  of  the  Fourth,  or 
King's  Own  Regiment,  who,  as  we  have  written, 
was  wounded  at  the  North  Bridge  and  was 
then  returning  in  a  borrowed  Concord  chaise, 
•drawn  by  a  borrowed  Concord  horse.  From 
him  Percy  learned  the  details  of  Lieut. -Col. 
Smith's  march,  and  of  his  present  urgent  need 
of  assistance.  He  hurried  along  towards  Lex 
ington,  and  Lieut.  Gould  continued  his  retreat 
towards  Boston,  but  was  captured  as  he  reached 
Arlington  village.  The  exact  spot  was  on  the 
present  Massachusetts  Avenue,  near  Mill  Street, 
and  his  captors  were  some  of  the  old  men  who 
had  destroyed  the  baggage-wagons.  Gould 
was  first  taken  to  Ammi  Cutter's,  and  then  to 
Medford,*  and  his  own  deposition  shows  that 
he  was  kindly  treated. 

At  last,  after  a  march  of  nearly  sixteen 
miles,  f  Percy  met  the  returning  force  under 
Lieut. -Col.  Smith,  who  had  passed  Lexington 
Common,  the  scene  of  his  engagement  in  the 
morning,  and  was  down  the  road  towards 
Boston,  half  a  mile.  The  place  of  meeting  was 
opposite  the  present  Lexington  High  School, 
and  the  time  between  two  and  three  o'clock. 
Percy  being  the  ranking  officer,  immediately 
took  command  of  the  united  forces.  It  did 
not  take  him  long  to  realize  the  terrible  condi 
tion  that  Smith's  troops  were  in,  and  to  minister 
to  their  wants.  As  they  halted  in  the  road,  his 
own  ranks  opened  to  receive  them,  and  there 
they  sank  to  the  ground  utterly  exhausted. 
Such  as  could  eat  or  drink  were  supplied  from 

*  Smith's  Address,  pages  31,  32. 

t  To  be  exact,  for  I  have  measured  the  route  over  which 
•he  marched,  it  was  15||  miles. 


122         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

his  own  stores,  while  the  wounded  were  taken 
still  farther  down  the  road,  less  than  a  quarter 
of  a  mile,  to  the  Munroe  Tavern,  which  he  pro 
ceeded  to  establish  as  his  headquarters  and  for 
use  as  a  hospital.  Near  the  place  of  meeting, 
coming  in  from  the  eastward,  was  then  and  is 
now,  the  Woburn  road,  the  bordering  walls  of 
which  sheltered  plenty  of  American  minute- 
men.  Back  a  little  to  the  southward  rose  the 
modest  elevation  now  sometimes  called  Mt. 
Vernon.  Americans  were  there  also,  for  it  was 
high  enough  for  them  to  look  down  on  the 
highway  very  nicely  if  permitted  to  do  so. 
Percy's  flankers,  however,  were  directed  to  clear 
all  surrounding  locations  of  enemies  to  the 
King,  and  Mt.  Vernon  and  the  Woburn  road 
were  soon  under  the  British  flag  again,  or  nearly 
so.  But  occasionally  from  some  obscure  or 
neglected  corner,  rose  a  puff  of  blue  smoke  and 
then  the  wearer  of  that  brilliant  red  uniform 
would  tumble  over  in  the  road,  wounded  or 
dying,  or  dead.  Little  bodies  of  minute-men, 
unorganized  always,  were  seen  dodging  back 
and  forth  around  the  meeting-house  on  the 
Common.  Other  little  groups,  and  many 
singly,  were  noticed  climbing  over  walls,  emerg 
ing  from,  and  disappearing  again,  behind 
clumps  of  bushes,  and  trees,  and  houses;  hardly 
ever  in  sight  long  enough  to  shoot  at.  Percy, 
thinking  to  awe  them,  wheeled  his  two  six- 
pounders  into  position  and  opened  his  first 
cannonade  on  the  meeting-house  on  Lexington 
Common.  It  was  likewise  the  first  cannon 
fired  in  the  American  Revolution.  No  American 
was  killed,  or  even  wounded,  but  the  house  of 
God  in  Lexington  suffered,  and  it  cost  the 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          123 

town  some  money  to  repair  it.  The  cannon 
ball  crashing  through  the  meeting-house  did 
have  the  effect  to  drive  the  Americans  farther 
back,  and  probably  out  of  rifle  range  for  a 
while. 

Percy  having  thus  scattered  his  near-by 
enemies  then  moved  one  of  his  six-pounders  a 
few  rods  down  the  road  near  the  present  Bloom- 
field  Street,  then  up  the  little  elevation  to  the 
southward,  now  called  Mt.  Vernon.  The  pre 
cise  spot  was  probably  about  opposite  the 
northerly  end  of  the  present  Warren  Street. 
He  strongly  supported  it  with  a  part  of  his 
brigade.*  This  location  was  an  excellent  one 
for  artillery,  as  it  commanded  the  highway 
for  fully  a  mile  to  Lexington  Common  and 
beyond.  As  before,  his  gunner  could  find  no 
American  long  enough  in  one  place  to  aim  at. 
So  there  were  no  fatalities. 

While  Smith's  soldiers  were  resting,  some  of 
those  under  Percy  as  reinforcements  wandered 
about  that  part  of  the  village  bent  on  mischief 
and  pillage,  not  the  kind  usually  indulged  in  by 
the  average  rowdy  element  of  an  army,  but  on 
a  much  larger  and  grander  scale.  Houses  and 
outlying  buildings  were  looted  and  burned. 
The  first  ones  were  owned  by  Deacon  Joseph 
Loring,  non-combatant,  seventy-three  years  of 
age,  situated  close  by  the  meeting  place  of  the 
two  detachments,  on  the  westerly  side  of  the 
road.  This  group  of  buildings  consisted  of  a 
mansion  house,  a  barn  seventy-five  feet  long, 
and  a  corn  house.  All  were  completely  de- 

*  In  his  report  he  states  that  he  "drew  up  the  Brigade  on  a  height." 
Only  Mount  Vernon  was  easily  accessible  for  such  a  movement. 
See  also  Doolittle's  "A  View  of  the  South  Part  of  Lexington,"  for 
confirmation. 


124         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

stroyed,  together  with  such  of  their  contents  as 
could  not  be  carried  away.  About  two  hun 
dred  rods  of  Loring's  stone  walls  were  also 
pushed  over,  emphasizing  strongly  the  feeling 
of  hostility  existing  among  the  British  soldiers 
for  their  American  cousins.  His  loss  was  £720.* 
This  wanton  and  needless  destruction  of  prop 
erty  must  have  been  by  the  express  command 
of  Percy,  for  he  was  but  a  few  rods  away. 

On  the  easterly  side  of  the  road,  nearly  oppo 
site  the  Loring  house,  standing  on  the  site  of 
the  present  Russell  House,  was  the  home  of 
Matthew  Mead.  That,  too,  was  within  a  few 
rods  of  where  Percy  sat  on  his  white  horse,  but 
it  was  ransacked  by  his  soldiers,  and  Mead's 
loss  was  £101.  t 

Another  plundered  Lexington  home  in  that 
neighborhood  belonged  to  Benjamin  Merriam, 
one  of  Parker's  Company,  and  of  course  absent. 
His  house  was  not  burned,  but  damaged  to  the 
extent  of  £6.  His  loss  of  personal  property 
amounted  to  £217,  4  s.f  The  building  is  still 
in  existence,  but  has  been  moved  easterly  into 
Woburn  Street  across  the  railroad  tracks.  Its 
original  location  was  on  the  westerly  side  of 
Massachusetts  Avenue,  a  few  rods  north  of 
Winthrop  Road,  and  easily  within  sight  of  the 
British  commander,  Lord  Percy.  •  *. 

And  let  us  not  forget  that  from  that  time  on, 
Percy  was  in  supreme  command  of  the  united 
British  forces,  amounting  to  nearly  eighteen 
hundred  men.  To  him  belongs  the  credit  of  a 
masterly  retreat,  for  his  loss  in  killed  and 

*  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress  of  Mass,  in  1775,  page  686. 
t  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress  of  Mass,  in  1775,  page  688. 
J  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress  of  Mass  in  1775,  page  688  . 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          125 

wounded  was  surprisingly  small  considering  the 
number  of  American  riflemen  in  pursuit.  To 
him  belongs  the  blame  also  for  the  burned 
homes  of  inoffensive  non-combatants,  for  the 
killing  of  such  helpless  old  men  as  Raymond; 
for  the  summary  removal  of  Hannah  Adams 
and  her  infant  from  child-bed;  for  the  killing  of 
feeble-minded  William  Marcy;  for  the  killing 
of  fourteen-year  old  Edward  Barber.  His 
entire  march  back  to  Charlestown  was  thickly 
dotted  with  just  such  incidents,  unrelieved  by 
any  conspicuous  merciful  action,  or  by  any 
deed  of  bravery.  It  was  a  masterly  retreat, 
indeed, —  and  it  was  a  brutal  one,  too.  Happily 
for  the  American  patriots  in  succeeding  contests,, 
no  other  British  commander  seemed  inspired 
by  such  revengeful  instincts.  Happily  for  the 
British  historian  he  has  no  other  such  brutal 
events  to  apologize  or  blush  for.  Percy  occupies 
his  one  page  in  history,  uniquely,  at  least.  His 
services  in  America,  terminated  soon  thereafter, 
and  at  his  own  request,  and  for  some  reason 
which  we  know  not  of.  Possibly  he  was  satis 
fied  with  the  fame,  such  as  it  was,  which  he  won 
on  that  glorious  day.* 

The  next  Lexington  home  to  be  destroyed  by 
the  incendiary  belonged  to  the  widow  Lydia 

*  A  majority  of  the  voters  of  Lexington  in  town  meeting 
assembled  have  re-named  a  near-by  street,  "Percy  Road,"  in  com 
memoration  of  his  visit  on  that  Nineteenth  of  April.  Almost 
any  other  foeman's  name  would  have  been  better,  if  it  is  thus 
necessary  to  mark  a  growing  feeling  of  respect  and  kindliness  be 
tween  two  nations  of  kindred  blood.  Its  older  name  was  Mt. 
Vernon  Street! 

The  town  has  many  street  names  in  memory  of  that  battle  day, 
such  as  Adams,  Clarke,  Hancock,  Muzzey,  Revere.  Percy  Road 
starts  from  near  the  old  Munroe  Tavern.  What  better  name  could 
there  be  for  this  thoroughfare  than  Munroe  Avenue,  in  memory  of 
Sergeant  William  Munroe,  or  of  his  grandson  James  S.  Munroe,  who 
has  generously  left  the  Tavern  to  be  forever  open  to  the  public  for 
inspection. 


126         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

Mulliken  and  her  son.  It  stood  not  far  from 
Loring's,  on  the  main  road  to  Boston,  nearly 
opposite  the  present  Munroe  School.  The 
clock  shop  connected  with  the  same  estate  was 
also  burned.  As  in  the  previous  cases  such 
personal  effects  as  were  desired  by  the  soldiers 
were  first  removed  and  subsequently  carried 
away.  The  works  of  a  valuable  musical  clock 
were  found  in  the  knapsack  of  a  wounded  Briton, 
when  he  was  subsequently  captured.*  The 
Mulliken  loss  was  ^431.f 

John  Mulliken,  cabinet-maker,  son  of  the 
widow,  and  living  in  Concord,  joined  in  the 
pursuit,  and  came  as  far  as  Lexington.  There 
he  saw  his  mother's  house  in  flames,  which 
affected  him  so  deeply  that  he  could  proceed  no 
farther. J 

A  modest  little  home  and  shop  belonging  to 
Joshua  Bond,  standing  northwesterly  from 
Munroe  Tavern,  and  very  near  the  present 
beginning  of  "Percy  Road,"  were  first  looted, 
and  then  burned.  His  loss  was  £189,  16  s.  7  d. 

The  greater  part  of  these  happenings  were 
within  that  first  half  hour  after  Percy  took 
command  of  the  united  British  forces,  and 
before  he  began  his  retreat.  This  energetic 
destroyer  of  American  homes  had  selected 
Munroe  Tavern  as  his  temporary  headquarters, 
and  ordered  his  wounded  conveyed  there  also. 
While  their  wounds  were  being  dressed  his  men 
demanded  such  refreshments  as  the  place  could 
provide,  and  unlike  Smith's  subordinates  in 


*  Lexington  Historical  Society  Proceedings,  III,  135. 
t  See  Doolittle's  "A  View  of  the  South  Part  of  Lexington,"  for 
.an  idea  of  those  burning  Lexington  homes. 

J  Lexington  Historical  Society  Proceedings,  III,  135. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          127 

'Concord,  were  not  considerate  enough  to  pay 
for  them.  So  landlord  William  Munroe's  loss 
was  £203,  11  s.  9  d.,  of  which  £90  was  in  the 
"retail  shop,"  presumably  of  a  liquid  nature. 
As  he  was  orderly  sergeant  in  Captain  Parker's 
Company,  he  was  naturally  absent  on  duty, 
.and  left  a  lame  man,  John  Raymond,  in  charge, 
who  waited  upon  the  unbidden  guests  because 
he  was  compelled  to.  His  last  service  was  to 
mix  a  glass  of  punch  for  one  of  the  red-coats, 
after  which  he  essayed  to  escape  through  the 
garden.  He  was  not  alert  enough,  for  two 
soldiers  fired,  and  one  of  their  bullets  readily 
overtook  him  as  he  hobbled  away.*  Thus  one 
more  was  added  to  the  list  of  American  dead, 
one  of  the  easiest  victims,  of  course,  for  he  was 
simply  an  unarmed  cripple.  This  probably 
happened  at  the  rear  of  the  Tavern. 

A  few  rods  from  the  Tavern,  down  the  road 
towards  Boston,  were  two  more  Lexington 
homes,  on  opposite  sides  of  the  street,  and  so 
quite  near  to  each  other.  They  are  still  stand 
ing  (1912).  In  the  one  on  the  westerly  side 
lived  Samuel  Sanderson,  a  member  of  Capt. 
Parker's  Company.  He  was  not  at  home,  so 
they  killed  his  cow  instead,  not  for  food,  but 
for  the  pure  pleasure  of  killing  something. 
Evidently  landlord  Munroe's  liquor  was  having 
some  effect,  if  not  in  making  men  braver,  then 
in  making  them  more  brutal.  Sanderson  did 
not  report  the  amount  of  his  loss  to  the  Legisla 
ture.  On  the  easterly  side  of  the  road  lived 
John  Mason  and  family.  All  were  absent  so 


*  A  carefully  written  newspaper  clipping  evidently  from  a  Boston 
periodical,  dated  April  19,  1858,  preserved  in  a  scrap  book  once 
Belonging  to  the  Thomas  Waterman  collection  of  American  History. 


128         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

the    soldiers    permitted    themselves    to    carry 
away  property  to  the  value  of  £14,  13  s,  4  d.* 

Many  other  homes  in  Lexington  were  ran 
sacked,  mostly  during  Percy's  halt.  The  total 
loss,  as  reported  to  the  Legislature  in  1783, 
amounted  to  £1761,  1,  15;  nearly  $9,000 
as  computed  in  money  of  to-day.  Undoubtedly 
many  minor  losses  were  not  reported  at  all. 

While  these  events  were  happening,  the 
American  riflemen  were  not  idle.  From  Mt. 
Vernon  to  the  westward,  and  from  the  Munroe 
meadows  to  the  eastward,  came  many  leaden 
messengers,  some  of  them  effective.  Among 
the  British  officers  wounded,  and  probably  most 
of  them  during  the  halt,  were  Lieut.  Hawkshaw, 
Lieut.  Cox,  and  Lieut.  Baker,  of  the  Fifth, 
Ensign  Baldwin  and  Lieut.  McCloud  of  the 
Forty-seventh;  and  Capt.  Souter  and  Lieut. 
Potter  of  the  Marines.  Many  privates  were 
killed  and  wounded,  f 

Shortly  after  the  meeting  of  Percy  and 
Smith,  Gen.  William  Heath  of  Roxbury  arrived 
in  Lexington,  and  endeavored  to  effect  the 
organization  of  the  American  forces  into  the 
semblance  of  an  army.  Dr.  Joseph  W7arrert 
arrived  on  the  scene  at  the  same  time.  Heath's 
efforts  were  hardly  successful,  as  the  patriots 
chose  to  fight  as  they  had  from  the  beginning, 
singly  and  self-commanded.  It  appears  that 
Heath  had  first  gone  to  Cambridge,  to  meet 
the  Committee  of  Safety,  and  from  there  in 
tended  to  go  to  Lexington,  but  fearing  the 
British  were  in  possession  of  the  road  in  that 
direction  had  taken  one  across  to  Water  town. 

*  Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress  of  Mass,  in  1775. 

*  De  Bernicre's  Report. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          129 

Finding  there  some  of  the  militia  of  the  town 
awaiting  orders,  he  directed  them  to  Cambridge 
to  take  up  the  planks  of  the  Boston  bridge, 
barricade  its  southerly  end  and  dispute  the 
passage  of  the  retreating  British  on  their  way 
home  to  Boston.  Then  he  proceeded  to  Lex 
ington  and  upon  his  arrival  there  was  generally 
recognized  as  the  commanding  officer  of  the 
American  forces.  He  found  the  people  there 
aroused  to  great  excitement  caused  by  the 
bombardment  of  the  meeting-house  and  the 
burning  of  so  many  homes.* 

It  must  have  been  half  past  three,  or  perhaps 
nearly  four  o'clock,  when  Percy  gave  the  order 
to  march.  He  realized  the  distance  to  Boston, 
and  the  dangers  along  the  way.  "As  it  now 
began  to  grow  pretty  late,"  he  says  in  his 
official  report,  "and  we  had  15  miles  f  to 
retire,  and  only  our  36  rounds,  I  ordered  the 
Grenadiers  and  Light  Infantry  to  move  off 
first, J  and  covered  them  with  my  Brigade, 
sending  out  very  strong  flanking  parties." 

The  imposing  display  and  the  vigilant  flank 
ers  had  the  desired  effect  of  keeping  the  Ameri 
cans  at  a  comparatively  safe  distance,  and  so 
Percy  and  his  little  army  marched  down  through 
East  Lexington  in  safety. 

The  looting  section  picked  up  considerable 
plunder  from  the  abandoned  homes  along  the 
way,  evidently  without  protest  from  the  com 
mander.  The  march  was  a  slow  one,  for 
Smith's  weary  and  wounded  soldiers  had  to  be 

*  Heath's  Memoirs,  page  201. 

t  Then  he  had  in  mind  to  return  by  way  of  Roxbury,  a  longer 
march  than  to  Charlestown. 

J  De  Bernicre  says  the  Light  Infantry  was  in  front,  then  the 
Grenadiers. 


'130         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

considered.  Many  of  them  were  on  the  verge 
of  collapse  and  quite  a  few  dropped  out  of  the 
ranks  for  good.  De  Bernicre  in  his  account 
places  the  "missing"  at  twenty-six.  One  of 
these,  a  German,  was  discovered  by  the  road 
side  in  East  Lexington  soon  after  Percy  had 
passed  out  of  sight.  He  was  well  treated  by 
the  Americans,  and  made  his  home  among  them 
for  many  years.* 

The  Americans  killed  in  Lexington  during 
the  afternoon  were  Jedediah  Munroe,  and  John 
Raymond.  The  British  loss  was  much  greater, 
for  the  Americans  were  being  reinforced  con 
stantly  by  minute-men  from  the  remote  towns. 
Three  companies  from  Newton  entered  the 
battle  at  Lexington,  under  the  command  re 
spectively  of  Capt.  Phinehas  Cook,  thirty-seven 
men;  Capt.  Amariah  Fuller,  one  hundred  and 
six  men;  and  Capt.  Jeremiah  Wiswell,  seventy- 
six  men.  Together  these  numbered  two  hun 
dred  and  nineteen  men,  making  the  total  enrol 
ment  of  the  Americans  in  pursuit  of  Percy  as 
he  passed  out  of  Lexington,  nineteen  hundred 
and  eighty-one  men. 

PERCY'S     RETREAT    THROUGH 
ARLINGTON. 

It  was  not  far  from  half  past  four  when  the 
British  crossed  the  Lexington  line  and  entered 
into  Arlington.  Their  retreating  march  in 
Lexington  measured  about  two  and  one 
quarter  miles.  Along  the  road  they  had  striven 
to  kill  in  honorable  battle.  They  had  suc- 

*  Told  to  me  by  the  venerable  Charles  Brown  still  living  (1911) 
in  East  Lexington.  His  grandfather,  Capt.  Edmund  Munroe,  was 
an  active  participant  in  the  events  of  April  19th. 


132         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

ceeded  but  slightly,  and  paid  an  unusual  price 
with  a  much  larger  number  of  their  own  dead 
and  wounded.  Percy's  aim  seemed  to  have 
been  to  terrorize  his  opponents  at  whatever 
cost.  The  life  of  Raymond  was  not  taken  in 
battle,  nor  can  rapine  and  incendiarism  add 
glory  to  his  military  renown.  Lexington's 
highway  to  Arlington  ran  between  pillaged 
and  burning  homes,  and  his  soldiers  staggered 
along  under  heavy  burdens  of  property  stolen 
from  those  whose  King  was  his  King.  Con 
cord  and  Lincoln  have  none  of  Percy's  deeds 
related  in  their  chronicles,  but  Lexington,  and 
Arlington,  and  Cambridge,  and  Somerville,  and 
Charlestown  have  good  reason  to  remember  his 
terrible  conception  of  warfare. 

Gen.  William  Heath,  as  the  commanding 
officer  of  the  Americans,  endeavored  to  organize 
his  forces  into  something  like  an  army.  He 
did  not  greatly  succeed,  but  re-formed  some  of 
the  forces  that  had  been  scattered  by  Percy's 
cannonade,  directed  towards  the  meeting-house 
on  Lexington  Common.* 

Descending  the  high  lands  in  the  upper  part 
of  Arlington  by  the  road,  now  known  as  Apple- 
ton  Street,  that  skirts  along  the  base  of  Arlington 
Heights,  and  drops  to  the  "Foot  of  the  Rocks," 
the  Americans  pressed  in  greater  numbers  and 
greater  courage  on  Percy's  rear  guard.  The 
bravery  of  individuals  at  this  point  became 
conspicuous  and  often  foolishly  hazardous. 
Percy,  in  his  report,  speaks  of  some  concealed 
in  houses  by  the  wayside,  who  would  emerge 
therefrom  and  approach  within  ten  yards  to 
fire  at  him  and  his  officers  —  though  sure  of  a 

*  Heath's  Memoirs. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          133 

fatal  fire  in  return.  He  seemed  surprised  at 
their  enthusiasm,  as  he  called  it,  evidently 
forgetting  how  much  he  had  excited  their  anger. 
It  is  almost  beyond  belief  that  he  could  have 
escaped  through  such  a  gauntlet,  mounted  as 
he  was,  on  his  beautiful  white  horse,  a  con 
spicuous  mark  from  the  hillsides  along  the  way. 
But  he  did, —  for  such  is  occasionally  the 
fortune  of  war  as  granted  to  brave  men.  His 
personal  courage  was  beyond  question. 

The  forces  of  the  Americans  wa£  greatly 
augmented  during  the  pursuit  tferough  Ar 
lington.  Minute-men  from  the  nearby  Middle 
sex  towns,  and  from  Essex  and  Norfolk  counties, 
arrived  at  the  time  and  disposed  themselves 
along  a  line  parallel  to  the  highway  as  their  indi 
vidual  fancies  dictated,  and  independent  of  any 
commander-in-chief.  Along  the  hillside  to  the 
south,  behind  the  walls,  and  even  within  build 
ings  adjacent  to  the  road,  they  were  posted, 
singly  and  in  squads,  among  them  many 
unerring  marksmen,  who  added  greatly  to  the 
British  loss  in  killed  and  wounded.  Percy 
would  have  been  dismayed  had  be  known  the 
number  of  reinforcements  he  must  then  con 
tend  with,  but  they  were  not  paraded  for  his 
inspection.  His  own  army  at  the  highest  had 
not  numbered  over  eighteen  hundred  men,  but 
now  considerably  depleted,  by  his  losses  along 
the  way,  it  is  doubtful  if  it  would  equal  fifteen 
hundred  really  effective  soldiers. 

The  Americans  entering  the  contest  at  Ar 
lington  were  from  Brookline,  Capt.  Thomas 
White  and  ninety-five  men,  and  possibly  two 
other  companies  under  Col.  Thos.  Aspinwall  and 
Major  Isaac  Gardner,  number  of  men  un- 


134         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

known;*  Watertown,  Capt.  Samuel  Barnard, 
one  hundred  and  thirty-four  men;  Medford, 
Capt.  Isaac  Hall,  fifty-nine  men;  Maiden,  Capt. 
Benjamin  Blaney,  seventy-six  men;  Roxbury, 
Capt.  Lemuel  Child,  thirty-five  men,  Capt. 
William  Draper,  fifty  men,  Capt.  Moses  Whit 
ing,  fifty-five  men;  Dedham,  Capt.  Eben  Battle, 
sixty-six  men;  Capt.  Wm.  Bullard,  fifty-nine 
men,  Capt.  Daniel  Draper,  twenty-four  men, 
Capt.  William  Ellis,  thirty-one  men,  Capt. 
David  Fairbanks,  fourteen  men,  Capt.  Aaron 
Fuller,  sixty-seven  men,  Capt.  George  Gould, 
seventeen  men,  Capt.  Joseph  Guild,  fifty-nine 
men;  Needham,  Capt.  Aaron  Smith,  seventy 
men,  Capt.  Robert  Smith,  seventy-five  men, 
Capt.  Caleb  Kingsbury,  forty  men;  Lynn, 
Capt.  Nathaniel  Bancroft,  thirty-eight  men, 
Capt.  William  Farrington,  fifty-two  men,  Capt. 
Rufus  Mansfield,  forty-six  men,  Capt.  Ezra  New- 
hall,  forty-nine  men,  Capt.  David  Parker,  sixty 
three  men;  Beverly,  Capt.  Caleb  Dodge,  thirty- 
two  men,  Capt.  Larkin  Thorndike,  forty-eight 
men,  Capt.  Peter  Shaw,  forty-two  men;  Danvers, 
Capt.  Samuel  Epes,  eighty-two  men,  Capt. 
Samuel  Flint,  forty-five  men,  Capt.  Israel  Hutch- 
inson,  fifty-three  men,  Capt.  Caleb  Lowe, 
twenty-three  men,  Capt.  Jeremiah  Page,  thirty- 
nine  men,  Capt.  Asa  Prince,  thirty-seven  men, 
Capt.  Edm.  Putnam,  seventeen  men,  Capt.  John 
Putnam,  thirty-five  men ;  Menotomy,  Capt.  Ben 
jamin  Locke,  fifty-two  men.  Undoubtedly  some 
of  Locke's  men  were  engaged  earlier  in  the  day, 
particularly  those  wrho  lived  in  Arlington,  for 
twenty-six  of  them  assembled  on  the  Common 


*  Bolton's    Brookline.     White's   was   the   only   company   to   file 
claim  for  pay,  however.     See  Mass.  Archives. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          135 

at  daybreak,  and  must  have  gone  up  to  Lex 
ington,  at  least.  Of  the  other  members,  eleven 
were  from  Charlestown,  seven  from  Boston,  three 
from  Stoneham,  two  from  Lexington,  one  from 
Newton,  and  one  residence  unknown.  Together 
these  reinforcements  at  Arlington  numbered 
seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-nine  men. 

Under  the  combined  efforts  of  Gen.  Heath 
and  Dr.  Warren  the  minute-men  were  en 
couraged  to  rally  and  draw  nearer  the  rear 
guard  of  Percy's  column,  to  harass  and  destroy 
them.  The  two  British  field  pieces  were  often 
turned  on  the  Americans  but  were  too  cumber 
some  for  effective  use  against  the  elusive 
minute-men.  The  cannon  balls  went  tearing 
up  the  road,  smashing  trees  and  shrubs,  toppling 
over  stone  walls,  pushing  jagged  holes  through 
buildings,  striking  terror  into  the  hearts  of 
women  and  children,  and  presumably  many  of 
the  men,  who  were  unused  to  war. 

This  renewal  of  activities  commenced  in 
Arlington  where  the  road  comes  in  from  Lex 
ington,  and  skirts  along  the  northerly  base  of 
Peirce's  Hill,  now  called  Arlington  Heights. 
The  descent  from  there  to  the  plain  is  by  a 
steep  grade  and  the  lower  end  of  that  part  of 
the  highway  was  then,  and  is  now,  known  as 
Foot  of  the  Rocks.  This  skirting,  curved 
road  around  Peirce's  Hill  still  exists.  Its 
westerly  end  is  now  called  Paul  Revere  Road, 
and  its  easterly  end,  Appleton  St.  Since  that 
time  a  straight  road  with  gentler  grade  has  been 
made  to  connect  the  two  ends  of  that  part  of 
Battle  Road,  and  forms  a  part  of  the  new 
Massachusetts  Avenue  from  Boston  to  the 
Concord  line. 


136         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

It  was  at  the  Foot  of  the  Rocks  that  Dr. 
Warren,  brave  even  to  recklessness,  exposed 
himself  to  some  vigilant  British  marksman, 
who  could  not  fail  to  notice  his  enthusiasm  and 
influence.  The  bullet  came  dangerously  near 
the  doctor's  head,  so  near,  in  fact,  as  to  strike  a 
pin  from  his  ear-lock.*  Here,  also,  Dr.  Downer 
of  Roxbury  engaged  in  single  combat  with  a 
British  soldier,  whom  he  slew  with  a  bayonet 
thrust,  t 

Towards  the  summit  of  Peirce's  Hill  was 
the  Robbins  home.  The  family  had  fled. 
Percy's  flank-guard  ransacked  the  house,  built 
a  fire  on  the  kitchen  floor,  which  burned  off  a 
line  full  of  wet  clothes  hanging  over  it,  letting 
them  fall  into  the  flames  which  were  thereby 
extinguished. f 

Down  this  road  a  little  farther  stood  the 
Tufts  Tavern,  once  occupied  by  Mr.  Cutler, 
the  rich  farmer  and  butcher,  but  at  that  time 
by  John  Tufts,  previously  of  Medford,  whose 
wife  was  Rebecca,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Cutler. 
It  will  be  recalled  that  Tufts  had  been  aroused 
in  the  early  morning  by  the  British,  and  when 
they  returned  the  family  had  fled.  Soldiers 
broke  into  the  upper  end  of  it,  loaded  themselves 
with  such  plunder  as  they  could  carry  away, 
and  maliciously  destroyed  some  that  they  were 
obliged  to  leave  behind.  One  thrust  his  bayo 
net  through  the  best  mirror,  the  frame  of  which 
was  long  preserved.**  While  others,  thinking 

*  Heath's  Memoirs. 

t  Heath's  Memoirs. 

J  Mrs.  Lydia  Peirce's  statement  in  Smith's  Address,  page  33. 

**  Mrs.  Almira  T.  Whittemore  in  Parker's  Arlington,  page  194, 
The  tavern  is  still  standing,  or  part  of  it,  numbered  965  Massachu 
setts  Ave.,  opposite  Mt.  Vernon  Street. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          137 

to  serve  their  King,  opened  the  taps  of  the  casks 
containing  molasses  and  spirits,  allowing  them 
to  escape.  Then  they  set  fire  to  the  building, 
and  left  in  haste  to  rejoin  their  retreating  com 
panions.  A  faithful  colored  slave  of  Mr. 
Cutler's  watching  from  a  distance,  entered  soon 
after  their  departure  and  extinguished  the  fire. 

Richer  plunder  awaited  the  looters  at  the 
home  of  Joseph  Adams,  a  venerable  deacon  of 
the  Second  Precinct  Church.  He  had  remained 
at  home  with  his  family  until  Percy's  troops 
came  into  sight  up  the  road.  Then  fearing  his 
outspoken  views,  strongly  antagonistic  to  the 
British  ministry,  might  subject  him  to  abuse 
by  Percy  and  his  soldiers,  he  determined  to 
make  his  way  across  the  fields  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Cook's  barn.  He  was  seen,  and  a  volley  of 
bullets  followed,  but  he  reached  the  barn,  and 
hid  in  the  hay.  Some  of  the  soldiers  followed, 
even  into  the  barn,  and  pierced  the  hay  with 
their  bayonets,  but  he  was  not  exactly  there. 
Some  of  them  burst  open  the  door  of  his  home, 
and  three  broke  into  the  chamber,  where  lay 
his  wife  and  their  infant  child,  but  a  few  days 
old.  The  mother  was  too  ill  to  arise,  even. 
One  of  the  soldiers  opened  the  bed-curtains 
and  with  fixed  bayonet,  pointing  to  her  breast, 
seemed  about  to  slay  her.  She  begged  him  not 
to  kill  her,  but  he  only  angrily  replied : 

"Damn  you!" 

Another  soldier,  with  a  more  humane  heart, 
interceded,  and  said, 

"We  will  not  kill  the  woman  if  she  will  go  out 
of  the  house,  but  we  will  surely  burn  it." 

Inspired  by  the  threat,  Mrs.  Adams  then 
arose,  drew  a  blanket  about  herself  and  little 


138         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

infant,*  and  painfully  made  her  way  to  the 
corn-house  close  by.  It  was  the  first  journey 
since  her  illness,  as  far  as  her  chamber  door 
even.  Other  children  were  left  within  the 
house,  but  she  was  too  weak  to  be  of  any  assist 
ance  to  them.  They  had  hidden  under  a  bed, 
but  curiosity  getting  the  better  of  Joel,  aged 
nine  years,  the  little  folks  were  all  discovered, 
but  not  harmed.  They  saw  the  sheets  stripped 
from  the  beds  and  household  valuables  dumped 
into  them,  even  including  the  works  of  an  old 
clock,  an  heirloom  in  the  family.  Most  valu 
able  of  all  the  booty,  was  the  silver  tankard 
belonging  to  the  communion  service  given  to 
the  church  in  1769,  by  Jonathan  ButterfiekL 
It  was  subsequently  pawned  by  the  thief,  to  a 
Boston  silversmith,  Austin  by  name,  who  read 
the  engraved  inscription  thereon  and  notified 
Deacon  Adams.  After  the  evacuation  of  Boston 
by  the  British,  the  two  deacons  redeemed  the 
tankard  at  their  own  expense,  and  returned  it 
to  the  church,  where  it  is  still  in  use. 

The  soldiers  of  Lord  Percy,  then  emptied  a 
basket  of  chips  on  the  floor,  set  them  on  fire 
with  a  brand  from  the  hearth,  and  went  on 
their  way.  The  Adams  children  put  out  the 
blaze  with  a  quantity  of  home-brewed  beer, 
but  not  until  the  floor  was  badly  burned,  the 
ceiling  smoked  and  a  quantity  of  pewter  plates 
on  the  dresser  melted.f 


*  This  little  child  lived  into  womanhood  and  became  the  wife 
of  James  Hill. 

f  Mrs.  Adams's  Deposition  and  Smith's  Address,  wherein  he 
quotes  Mrs.  Thos.  Hall,  grand-daughter  of  Mrs.  Adams,  Rev.  Mr. 
Brown's  Sermon  on  James  Hill,  and  S.  G.  Damon's  article  in  The 
Christian  Register,  Oct.  28,  1854.  The  building,  or  part  of  it,  is 
still  standing  (1912)  being  the  ell  of  a  building  on  the  southerly 
side  of  Massachusetts  Avenue,  third  house  westerly  from  Bartlett 
Avenue. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          139 

A  little  farther  along,  on  the  westerly  side  of 
the  road,  lived  Jason  Russell,  aged  fifty-eight 
years.*  Somewhat  helpless  because  lame,  he 
had  started  with  his  family  at  noontime  for 
refuge  at  George  Prentiss's  on  the  hill.  After 
going  a  little  way  he  felt  impelled  to  return  and 
look  after  the  safety  of  his  home.  He  barricaded 
his  gate  with  bundles  of  shingles  and  from 
behind  them  took  his  position  to  fire  upon  the 
enemy  as  they  should  come  along  and  pass  by 
in  the  road  a  rod  away.  Rather  a  feeble  fortress 
from  any  military  standpoint,  and  one  that 
proved  to  be  a  death  trap  for  its  builder. 
Northerly  across  the  road  and  across  the  brook 
lived  Ammi  Cutter,  a  kindly  neighbor,  who 
came  and  pleaded  with  Russell  to  abandon  his 
door-yard  for  a  place  of  greater  safety.  Russell 
replied  that  "An  Englishman's  house  is  his 
castle."  Cutter  remained  by  his  side  until  the 
advancing  British  were  seen  up  the  road,  and 
then  started  on  the  run  across  the  road,  over 
the  wall  and  through  the  fields  towards  his 
home.  Reaching  the  old  mill-yard,  and  still 
running,  he  stumbled  and  fell  betwreen  two 
logs,  and  the  enemy's  bullets  scattered  bark 
over  him  as  he  lay.  They  thought  him  dead 
because  he  fell  as  they  fired,  and  so  left  him. 
But  he  was  entirely  uninjured. 

Back  of  the  Russell  house  in  a  southerly 
direction,  the  land  slopes  gently  upward  for  a 
little  way,  and  then  rises  to  a  considerable 
height.  Near  the  foot  of  this  hill  a  goodly 
number  of  Americans  were  posted,  among  them 
the  men  from  Danvers.  Approaching  along 

*  Born  Jan.  25,   1717.     Paige's  History  of  Cambridge.     The  old 
grave-stone  in  the  cemetery  at  Arlington  calls  him  59  years  old. 


140         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

the  slope  of  the  hill,  and  parallel  to  the  highway, 
was  a  strong  British  flanking  party  driving  all 
before  it.  The  Americans  at  that  point  were 
too  few  to  openly  resist,  so  retreated  and  entered 
the  Russell  house.  Down  the  road  came  the 
main  body  under  Percy,  and  perceiving  the 
minute-men,  advanced  and  opened  fire.  Rus 
sell  being  lame,  was  the  last  to  reach  the  door 
way,  where  two  bullets  felled  him.  The 
soldiers  rushed  in  and  pierced  him,  as  he  lay, 
with  eleven  bayonet  thrusts.  Then  they  en 
tered  the  house,  and  within  that  little  home 
enacted  the  bloodiest  tragedy  of  the  day. 
Here,  the  seven  men  from  Danvers  were  killed. 
The  other  Americans  retreated  to  the  cellar, 
and  from  the  foot  of  the  stairs  threatened 
death  to  any  Briton  who  should  come  down. 
One  attempted  to,  and  died  on  the  way.  An 
other  died  in  the  struggle  overhead.  Then  the 
house  was  plundered  in  accordance  with  Percy's 
method  of  warfare. 

After  the  British  had  passed,  the  Americans 
gathered  at  the  home  of  Jason  Russell.  The 
dead  from  the  yard,  and  within  the  house,  were 
laid,  side  by  side,  in  the  little  south  room. 
There  were  twelve  of  them,  and  the  blood  from 
their  wounds  mingled  in  one  common  pool  upon 
the  floor.* 

The  highway  from  Jason  Russell's  house,  to 
the  centre  of  Arlington  village,  proved  to  be 
the  bloodiest  half  mile  of  all  the  Battle  Road. 
Within  this  little  stretch  were  killed  twenty  or 
more  Americans,  and  as  many  or  more  Britons. 
And  here,  on  the  northerly  side  of  the  road, 

*  King's  Address  and   Smith's   Address.     The  old   home  is  still 
standing  though  removed  a  few  rods  back  from  its  original  location. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19    1775.          141 

not  far  from  where  the  British  convoy  was 
captured,  in  the  forenoon,  stood  another 
Adams  home.  It  was  punctured  with  bullets 
and  it  was  stained  with  blood,  for  the  dead  and 
dying  and  wounded  were  carried  there  after 
the  combatants  had  passed  on.* 

One  of  the  most  unequal  duels  of  any  war 
was  fought  near  here,  between  the  venerable 
Samuel  Whittemore,  aged  eighty  years,  and  a 
number  of  British  soldiers,  acting  as  a  flanking 
party,  on  the  easterly  side  of  the  road. 

Whittemore  lived  with  a  son  and  grand 
children  near  Menotomy  River,  and  had  been 
aroused  early  in  the  morning  by  the  passing  of 
Smith's  forces  on  their  way  to  Concord.  Mrs. 
Whittemore  then  commenced  her  preparations 
for  flight,  to  another  son's  house,  near  Mystic 
River,  towards  Medford.  She  supposed  that 
her  husband  intended  to  accompany  her,  but 
was  surprised  to  find  him  engaged  in  the  war 
like  occupation  of  oiling  his  musket  and  pistols, 
and  sharpening  his  sword.  In  his  younger 
days  he  had  been  an  officer  in  the  militia.  She 
urged  him  to  accompany  her  and  the  children. 
He  refused,  with  the  excuse  that  he  was  going 
"up  town"  as  he  expressed  it.  He  did  so, 
arriving  there  before  the  British  had  returned. 
When  they  reached  the  neighborhood  of  the 
present  railroad  crossing  they  halted,  some 
of  them  opposite  Mystic  Street.  Whittemore 
had  posted  himself  behind  a  stone  wall,  down 
Mystic  Street  about  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet, 
near  the  corner  of  the  present  Chestnut  Street. 

*  It  stood  easterly  of  the  present  (1911)  Town  Hall.  When 
the  railroad  went  through,  part  of  the  house  blocked  the  way  and 
therefore  the  whole  had  to  be  demolished.  The  grand  old  elm  that 
shaded  the  yard  was  destroyed  in  a  gale  and  a  smaller  one  now 
takes  its  place. 


142         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

The  distance  seemed  an  easy  range  for  him,  and 
he  opened  fire  killing  the  soldier  he  aimed  at. 
They  must  have  discovered  his  hiding-place 
from  the  smoke-puff,  and  hastened  to  close  in 
on  him.  With  one  pistol  he  killed  the  second 
Briton,  and  with  his  other  fatally  wounded  a 
third  one.  In  the  meantime  the  ever  vigilant 
flank-guard  were  attracted  to  the  contest,  and 
a  ball  from  one  of  their  muskets  struck  his  head 
and  rendered  him  unconscious.  They  rushed 
to  the  spot,  and  clubbed  him  with  their  muskets 
and  pierced  him  with  their  bayonets 
until  they  felt  sure  that  he  was  dead.  Soon 
after  they  left  him,  he  was  found  by  the  Ameri 
cans,  and  as  he  seemed  to  still  live  they  bore 
him  to  the  Cooper  Tavern.  Dr.  Tufts  of 
Medford  was  summoned,  but  declared  it  useless 
to  dress  so  many  wounds  as  the  aged  man  could 
not  possibly  survive.  However,  he  was  per 
suaded  to  try,  and  Whittemore  lived  eighteen 
more  years,  dying  in  1793,  at  the  age  of  ninety- 
eight.  When  .he  was  recovering,  his  wife 
could  not  forbear  asking  him  if  he  did  not 
regret  he  had  not  remained  with  the  rest  of 
the  family  from  the  first.  But  the  old  hero, 
still  suffering  from  his  many  wounds,  replied: 
"No!  I  would  run  the  same  chance  again."* 
Four  hundred  feet  farther  along,  at  the 
corner  of  the  Medford  road,  now  Medford 
Street,  stood  the  Cooper  Tavern,  Benjamin 
Cooper,  landlord.  He  and  his  wife,  Rachel, 
were  mixing  flip  at  the  bar.  Two  of  their 
guests,  and  possibly  those  two  were  all  at  the 
time,  were  Jason  Winship,  about  forty-five 
years  old,  and  his  brother-in-law,  Jabez  Wyman, 

*  Statement  of  F.  H.  Whittemore.    Smith's  Address,  pages  43,  44. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,   1775.          143 

in  his  fortieth  year.*  Evidently  they  were 
non-combatants,  and  as  such  expected  to 
remain  unmolested.  But  the  soldiers  were 
lashed  to  a  fury  by  the  reception  they  had  met 
along  the  road,  particularly  that  of  the  last 
half  mile.  So  many  houses  along  back  had 
concealed  minute-men,  that  about  all  were 
freely  riddled  with  bullets,  then  ransacked, 
and  then  set  on  fire.  Cooper  Tavern  was  not 
considered  by  them  as  a  privileged  exception. 
More  than  a  hundred  bullets  were  fired  into  it 
through  the  doors  and  windows.  Then  the 
soldiers  entered  for  their  finishing  strokes. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cooper  escaped  to  the  cellar,  but 
Wyman  and  Winship,  both  unarmed,  were 
stabbed  in  many  places,  their  heads  mauled 
until  their  skulls  were  broken,  and  brains 
scattered  about  on  the  floor  and  walls,  f 

The  death  of  these  two  unarmed  men,  formed 
the  climax  of  Arlington's  part  of  the  battle, 
for  Percy's  troops  passed  through  the  rest  of 
the  town,  and  crossed  Menotomy  River  into 
Cambridge  without  further  bloody  incident. 

The  Americans  who  were  killed  in  Arlington, 
were  Jason  Russell,  Jason  Winship  and  Jabez 
Wyman  of  Arlington;  Reuben  Kennison,  of 
Beverly;  Samuel  Cook,  Benjamin  Daland, 
Ebenezer  Goldthwait,  Henry  Jacobs,  Perley 
Putnam,  George  Southwick,  and  Jotham  Webb, 
of  Danvers;  Elias  Haven  of  Dedham;  William 
Flint,  Thomas  Hadley,  Abednego  Ramsdell,  and 
Daniel  Townsend,  of  Lynn;  William  Polly  and 
Henry  Putnam,  of  Medford;  Lieut.  John  Bacon, 
Nathaniel  Chamberlain,  Amos  Mills,  Sergt. 


*  Cutter's  Arlington  and  Paige's  Cambridge, 
f  Deposition  of  Rachel  Cooper. 


144         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

Elisha  Mills,  and  Jonathan  Parker  of  Needham; 
Benjamin  Peirce  of  Salem;  and  Jacob  Coolidge 
of  Water  town.  These  numbered  twenty-five, 
and  constituted  half  of  all  the  Americans  killed 
during  the  day. 

The  wounded  in  Arlington  were  Samuel 
VVhittemore,  of  Arlington;  Nathaniel  Cleaves, 
Samuel  Woodbury,  and  William  Dodge,  3rd,  of 
Beverly;  Nathan  Putnam,  and  Dennison  Wal 
lace  of  Danvers;  Israel  Everett  of  Dedham; 
Eleazer  Kingsbury,  and  a  son  of  Dr.  Tolman,  of 
Needham.  They  numbered  nine  out  of  the 
thirty-nine  Americans  wounded  during  the  day. 

The  British  killed  in  Arlington  were  at  least 
forty,  more  than  half  of  all  their  loss  during  the 
day. 

The  patriot  dead  of  old  Menotomy  and  her 
sister  towns  were  gathered,  and  twelve  of  them 
placed  on  a  sled  and  drawn  by  a  yoke  of  oxen 
to  the  little  village  church-yard.  There  they 
were  laid  away  in  one  large  grave,  side  by  side, 
in  the  same  bloody  garments  they  wore  when 
they  fell.  One  monument  marks  the  place. 
In  the  meeting-house  close  by,  friends  and 
relatives  met  on  the  following  Sabbath,  and, 
we  are  told  that  among  them  were  Anna, 
infant  grand-daughter  of  Jason  Russell,  born 
on  the  day  of  the  battle,  and  the  little  son  of 
Jason  Winship,  who  was  brought  to  the  altar 
for  baptism.  It  must  have  been  a  sacred  and 
patriotic  consecration  for  all.*  Some  of  the 
other  slain  from  distant  towns,  were  borne  by 
their  comrades  back  to  their  own  homes,  f 

In  Arlington,   then,   as   the  casualties  show, 

*  Smith's  Address,  page  52. 
f  King's  Address,  page  14. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          145 

the  battle  reached  its  climax.  The  savage 
ferocity  of  the  personal  encounters  show  to 
what  a  maddening  frenzy  the  King's  troops  had 
been  wrought.  As  in  Lexington,  Percy  at 
tempted  the  wholesale  destruction  of  the 
American  homes  by  the  torch,  but  so  closely 
had  he  been  followed  by  the  ever-increasing 
minute-men,  that  his  efforts  were  futile.  His 
soldiers  had  the  time  to  start  the  fires,  but  not 
the  time  to  fan  them  into  conflagrations,  and 
thus  old  Menotomy  escaped  the  fate  of  Lexing 
ton. 

Percy  continued  his  march  through  the 
town  of  Arlington,  crossing  Menotomy  River 
into  Cambridge  between  five  and  six  o'clock. 
The  minute-men  hovered  dangerously  near 
his  rear  guard  so  that  he  paused  often  long 
enough  to  wheel  his  two  six-pounders  about 
and  prevent  them  from  coming  too  near.  They 
were  entirely  without  fatal  effect,  but  inspired 
at  all  times  a  wholesome  respect,  and  kept 
the  Americans  farther  away. 


PERCY'S     RETREAT     THROUGH     CAM 
BRIDGE. 

Occasionally  the  contest  narrowed  down  to 
personal  encounters  between  two  or  more.  It 
was  near  the  Menotomy  River,  on  the  Cam 
bridge  side,  that  Lieut.  Bowman,  of  Arlington, 
overtook  a  straggler  from  the  British  ranks,  and 
engaged  him  in  single  combat.  Both  had  guns, 
but  neither  one  was  loaded.  The  Briton 
rushed  at  Bowman  with  fixed  bayonet,  but  the 
latter  warded  it  off,  and  with  his  musket  clubbed 


146         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

his  antagonist  to  the  ground.  Then  he  took 
him  prisoner.* 

Cambridge  was  the  home  of  Capt.  Samuel 
Thatcher's  company  of  seventy-seven  men,  but 
it  is  probable  that  Smith  had  encountered  them 
as  far  back  as  Lincoln,  for  the  muster  roll  in  the 
Massachusetts  Archives  states  that  most  of 
them  marched  twenty-eight  miles,  which  would 
mean  up  into  Lincoln  and  return,  and  to 
Charlestown  Neck  and  return. 

Percy's  march  through  Cambridge,  from 
Menotomy  River  to  the  Somerville  line,  meas 
ured  nearly  a  mile  and  a  quarter.  The  pro 
vincials  expected  that  he  would  return  to 
Boston  by  the  route  he  came  out,  that  is  through 
Harvard  Square  over  Charles  River  bridge  into 
Brighton,  thence  through  Roxbury,  and  along 
Boston  Neck  and  into  Boston.  Anticipating 
as  much,  it  was  ordered  that  the  bridge  should 
be  made  impassable.  But  Percy  deemed  it 
wise  to  hurry  on  to  Charlestown,  trusting  that 
Gen.  Gage  would  have  an  ample  force  there  to 
receive  and  protect  him.  It  was  several  miles 
nearer,  and  with  no  possibility  of  dismantled 
bridges  to  reconstruct,  for  his  troops  to  pass  over. 
Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that  Percy's  original 
plan  was  to  remain  that  night,  at  least,  in 
Harvard  Square,  but  he  had  not  counted  on 
such  intense  hostility,  from  so  large  an  army 
of  minute-men  in  open  rebellion.  He  deemed 
it  wiser,  therefore,  to  move  constantly  forward 
towards  the  main  army. 

This  mile  and  a  quarter  in  Cambridge  proved 
to  be  one  of  continual  battle,  also.  The 
Americans  were  ever  on  the  alert,  and  growing 

*  Dr.  B.  Cutter's  Statement  in  Smith's  Address,  page  47. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          147 

more  and   more  active  as  they  realized   more 
and   more   the   real   meaning   of   the   invasion. 
The  sight  of  many  of  the  British  soldiers  loaded 
down    with    plunder;  the    curling    smoke    and 
flames  from  American  dwellings;  the  dying  and 
the  dead,    some  of  them    horribly    mutilated, 
scattered  all  along  the  highway,   were  at  last 
inspiring   an   intense   feeling  of  hatred,   and   a 
longing    for    a    satisfying    vengeance.     Percy's 
army  experienced  practically  the  same  sensa 
tions.     Trained    as   soldiers    to    the    usages   of 
open  warfare,  they  deemed  the  frontier  method 
of  fighting  as  unfair  and  cowardly.     They  held 
in  contempt  the  man  who  should  remain  con 
cealed  in  safety  and  shoot  down  one  who  was 
compelled  to  remain  in  the  open.     Undoubtedly, 
too,   the  memory  of  a  comrade,   lying  at  the 
North    Bridge  with    that   ugly   hatchet   death- 
wound  in  the  head,   aroused  the  most  savage 
instincts,  that  seemed  to  cry  for  brutal  retalia 
tion.     Whittemore,  and  Wyman,   and  Winship 
seem  to  have  been  victims  of  vengeance  rather 
than  of  war. 

The  Americans  did  not  profit  much  by  the 
lessons  which  they  had  received,  earlier  in  the 
day,  for  they  again  fell  victims  to  the  British 
flankers.  Quite  a  number  had  gathered  near 
the  home  of  Jacob  Watson,  situated  on  the 
southerly  side  of  the  highway  near  the  present 
Rindge  Avenue.  Their  fragile  security  was  a 
pile  of  empty  casks,  not  far  from  the  road,  from 
behind  which  they  awaited  the  oncoming  of 
the  British.  But  the  flank-guard  came  up  in 
their  rear,  unobserved,  and  completely  sur 
prised  them,  killing  Major  Isaac  Gardner  of 
Brookline,  a  favorite  son  of  that  town,  and  the 


148         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

first  graduate  of  Harvard  College  to  fall  in  the 
War,  and  two  Cambridge  men,  John  Hicks, 
nearly  fifty  years  old,  and  Moses  Richardson, 
fifty-three  years  old.  And  near  the  same  place, 
another  Cambridge  man,  William  Marcy,  as 
tradition  says  *  of  feeble  intellect,  and  a  non- 
combatant.  He  was  sitting  on  the  fence, 
evidently  enjoying  the  military  spectacle,  and 
perhaps  good-naturedly  cheering  on  the  march 
ing  red-coats.  His  friendly  demonstrations 
were  entirely  mistaken  for  shouts  of  derision. 
In  the  midst  of  his  simple  pleasure,  some  Briton 
esteemed  it  his  duty  to  kill  him  as  an  enemy  of 
the  King. 

The  British  loss  at  this  place  was  but  one 
killed. 

On  they  marched,  wheeling  to  the  left,  into 
Beech  Street,  a  thoroughfare  about  seven 
hundred  feet  long,  and  thence  out  of  Cambridge 
and  into  Somerville. 

Soon  after  this,  the  wife  of  John  Hicks,  whose 
home  is  still  standing  (1912)  at  the  corner  of 
Dusnster  and  Winthrop  Streets,  fearing  for  his 
safety,  sent  her  son,  fourteen  years  of  age,  to  look 
for  him.  He  had  been  absent  since  morning,  and 
undoubtedly  the  noise  of  battle,  a  mile  and  a 
quarter  away,  coming  across  the  fields,  bore  a 
sad  burden  of  prophecy.  Her  misgivings  were 
well  founded,  for  the  son  found  his  father  by 
the  roadside  where  he  fell,  and  near  him  the 
others. 

The  body  of  Isaac  Gardner  was  taken  to 
Brookline  and  there  buried  the  next  day.  The 
remains  of  John  Hicks,  Moses  Richardson  and 


*  Paige's  History  of  Cambridge,  page  414. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          149 

William  Marcy,  were  immediately  taken  to 
the  little  churchyard  near  the  Common,  a  mile 
from  where  they  fell.  They  were  buried  in 
one  grave,  without  coffins  or  shrouds  even.  A 
son  of  Moses  Richardson,  standing  by,  realizing 
that  the  earth  was  to  fall  directly  on  their  faces, 
jumped  down  into  the  grave  and  arranged  the 
cape  of  his  father's  coat,  that  it  might  shield 
him  somewhat  from  the  falling  earth. 

We  may  wonder  now,  at  that  hasty  burial, 
without  much,  if  any,  ceremony;  but  let  us 
associate  with  it  the  trail  of  the  invading  army, 
and  of  what  seemed  possible  for  the  morrow, 
if  it  should  return,  greatly  reinforced,  for 
vengeance.  Boston  was  not  far  away,  and 
Gen.  Gage,  even  then,  might  be  preparing  to 
move  on  Cambridge,  with  a  force  sufficiently 
large  for  its  subjection.  The  Americans  did  not 
fully  realize  their  own  power  or  their  own 
courage,  not  even  as  well  as  Gen.  Gage  did, 
who  wisely  decreed  to  remain  in  Boston  and 
Charlestown,  and  decide  later  whether  to  pur 
sue  an  aggressive  or  a  defensive  campaign. 
The  spontaneous  rousing  of  the  country  was 
an  impressive  one  to  the  British  commander. 

It  had  evidently  been  Percy's  plan  to  camp 
on  Cambridge  Common  that  night,  and  while 
awaiting  expected  reinforcements,  or  upon  their 
arrival,  lay  the  buildings  of  Harvard  College, 
and  others,  in  ruins.  Such  a  course  would  have 
been  in  harmony  with  his  warfare  in  Lexington 
and  Arlington,  and  serve  as  a  practical  lesson 
to  those  in  rebellion,  of  the  disposition  and 
readiness  of  their  King  to  wreak  a  swift  and 


150         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

terrible  vengeance  upon  his  enemies.*  But 
Percy's  plans  were  rudely  disarranged,  and  he 
commenced  to  realize  that  he  was  really  being 
driven  back  to  Boston. 


PERCY'S   RETREAT  THROUGH   SOMER- 
VILLE. 

It  was  about  half  past  six  o'clock  when  Percy 
left  Cambridge  and  entered  the  present  city  of 
Somerville,  crossing  the  line  at  the  corner  of 
Beech  and  Elm  Streets.  Just  about  at  the 
Somerville  line  the  battle  was  hotly  renewed. 
Near  the  corner  of  Beech  Street,  and  on  the 
easterly  side  of  Elm  Street,  stood,  and  still 
stands  (1912),  the  house  of  Timothy  Tufts. 
Here  Percy  halted  his  army  while  his  two  field- 
pieces  were  dragged  up  the  hill  back  of  the 
Tufts  house  and  discharged  towards  his  pur 
suers,  with  the  usual  result  of  his  cannonading 
—  none  killed.  From  out  a  grove  a  little  way 
up  the  road,  came  a  scattering  fire  of  American 
sharpshooters  and  in  consequence  quite  a 
number  of  Britons  were  killed.  They  fell  in 
the  road,  just  in  front  of  the  Tufts  house,  and 
a  tablet  there  marks  where  they  were  buried. 

Along  Elm  Street  to  Oak  Street,  and  then 
continuing  in  Somerville  Avenue,  was  their 
route,  when  the  march  was  resumed.  At  the 
foot  of  Laurel  Street  on  Somerville  Avenue  was 
then  a  little  pond.  Into  that  many  weary 


*  See  Thanksgiving  Sermon  in  the  Camp  at  Roxbury,  Nov.  23, 
1775,  by  Rev.  Isaac  Mansfield,  Jr.,  Chaplain  to  Gen.  Thomas's 
Regiment.  Mr.  Mansfield  fully  believed  such  plans  to  have  been 
made  and  states  that  his  information  came  so  direct  that  he  could 
not  hesitate  to  accept  it  but  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  publish  the 
name  of  his  informer. 


152         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

Britons  threw  themselves  —  some  for  the  re 
freshing  plunge,  others  to  quench  their  thirst.* 

Their  march  was  continued  rapidly  now,  and 
in  consequence  the  fatalities  on  the  American 
side  were  slight,  if  any,  on  the  road  from  the 
Tufts  house  through  Bow  Street,  for  that  was  a 
part  of  Battle  Road  then,  to  Union  Square. 
From  the  latter  place  they  continued  through 
Washington  Street,  where  the  American  sharp 
shooters  had  a  grand  opportunity  to  renew 
their  havoc.  Washington  Street  skirts  along 
the  westerly  foot  of  Prospect  Hill,  the  summit 
of  which  commands  easily  a  stretch  of  highway 
for  more  than  half  a  mile.  Many  were  killed 
and  wounded,  some  of  the  latter  of  whom  were 
taken  into  the  house  then  standing  at  the 
corner  of  Washington  and  Prospect  Streets. 
Here  Percy  paused  long  enough  to  train  his 
two  field  pieces  up  the  road,  and  again  with  his 
usual  lack  of  fatal  results.  But  he  checked  the 
Americans. 

A  little  way  farther  along  on  the  northerly 
side  of  the  road,  stood  the  home  of  Samuel 
Shed.  Percy's  troops  halted  there,  for  the  few 
moments  necessary  to  turn  his  field  pieces  on  his 
pursuers  again.  While  there  one  of  the  Britons, 
ambitious  for  plunder,  entered  the  Shed  home, 
and  finding  there  a  bureau  or  highboy  filled 
with  household  effects,  commenced  the  work 
of  selecting  what  he  desired.  It  took  him  too 
long,  for  his  companions  passed  on,  and  left 
him  still  too  busy  to  notice  their  departure  or 
the  coming  of  the  Americans.  Bullets  came 
through  the  window,  one  of  which  killed  him, 


*  Booth,  in  Somerville  Journal.  April,  1875. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          153 

and  three  riddled  the  old  bureau,  spattering  his 
blood  over  it,  and  on  the  floor.* 

A  few  rods  farther,  the  grassy  slope  of  Pros 
pect  Hill  descended  in  a  southerly  direction  to 
Washington  Street,  then  called  the  Cambridge 
Road.  James  Miller,  about  sixty-six  years  old, 
stood  there  awaiting  the  British.  With  him 
was  a  companion,  and  both  fired  with  deadly 
effect,  again  and  again,  as  the  British  marched 
by  in  the  road  below.  They  were  discovered 
finally,  and  Miller's  companion  urged  him  to 
retreat. 

"Come,  Miller,  we've  got  to  go." 

"I'm  too  old  to  run,"  replied  Miller,  and  he 
remained  only  to  be  pierced  with  a  volley  of 
thirteen  bullets. f  His  home  was  but  a  short 
distance  down  the  road,  and  is  still  standing, 
next  to  the  house  on  the  easterly  corner  of 
Washington  and  Franklin  Streets. 

Miller  was  the  only  American  killed  in 
Somerville,  as  the  British  were  in  too  full 
retreat  to  act  very  much  on  the  aggressive. 
Their  loss  was  considerable,  however,  and  along 
the  entire  Battle  Road,  for  the  minute-men 
were  exceedingly  active  in  the  rear  and  on  the 
northerly  side  of  the  road,  particularly. 

The  policy  of  property  destruction  was  con 
tinued  by  Percy  through  Somerville.  The 
limited  time  at  his  command  did  not  allow  of 
very  thorough  work,  but  he  accomplished  some 
thing.  The  estate  of  James  Miller  whom  they 
killed  on  the  slope  of  Prospect  Hill,  was  dam- 

*  The  old  highboy  was  in  existence  in  1910  and  treasured  by  a 
Somerville  man,  Francis  Tufts,  to  whom  it  descended.  I  have 
seen  it,  with  its  blood  stains  and  three  bullet  holes. 

t  E.  C.  Booth  in  an  article  on  Somerville  in  Drake's  History  of 
Middlesex  County,  Vol.  2,  page  312. 


154         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

aged  to  the  extent  of  £4,  12  s.  ($23.00).  Eben- 
ezer  Shed  lost  his  house,  barn,  and  another 
building,  valued  at  £140  ($700),>and  the 
damage  to  his  crop,  fences,  etc.,  he  estimated  at 
£279,  3  s,  2  d.  ($1395.79).  The  widow  of 
Abigal  Shed  suffered  to  some  extent  in  the 
same  way.* 

PERCY'S  ARRIVAL  IN  CHARLES- 
TOWN. 

The  sun  set  at  seven  o'clock  on  that  nine 
teenth  day  of  April,  in  I775.f  It  never  rose 
again  on  Middlesex  County  under  kingly  rule. 
Percy  must  have  been  in  the  vicinity  of  Union 
Square,  Somerville,  at  that  particular  moment. 
The  pauses  for  his  artillery  demonstration;  the 
destruction  of  the  few  buildings;  the  killing  of 
Miller;  and  the  hurried  march  to  the  Charles- 
town  line,  did  not  occupy  more  than  half  an 
hour.  It  was  just  dark  enough  for  the  musket 
flashes  to  be  seen  across  the  marshes  and  across 
the  waters  of  the  Charles  River  to  the  Boston 
shore,  where  were  grouped  anxious  watchers 
awaiting  the  news  of  battle. 

Percy's  thirty-six  rounds  for  each  of  his 
soldiers  had  been  about  all  expended.  He 
describes  the  fire  all  around  his  marching 
column  as  "incessant,"  coming  from  behind 
stone  walls,  and  from  houses  that  he  at  first 
supposed  had  been  evacuated.  J 

Charlestown  Common,  now  Sullivan  Square, 
was  soon  reached,  and  his  column  gladly 
wheeled  to  the  right  and  marched  up  Bunker 

*  J.  F.  Hunnewell,    A  Century  of  Town  Life,  page  153. 
t  Low's  Almanack,  Boston,  1775. 
J  See  his  report  to  Gen.  Gage. 


GENERAI,  WII,I<IAM  HEATH, 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          155 

Hill.  As  they  did  so,  a  mile  away,  on  top  of 
Winter  Hill,  in  Somerville,  were  just  then 
arriving  three  hundred  more  Americans,  who 
had  marched  from  Salem  under  Col.  Timothy 
Pickering.  They  were  half  an  hour  late  to  be 
particularly  effective.  No  blame  can  be  at 
tached  to  them  for  that,  for  there  were  thou 
sands  of  other  minute-men,  from  distant  towns 
who  were  also  late,  for  April  19th,  but  who 
were  in  ample  time  to  join  the  besieging  army 
on  April  20th. 

At  Charlestown  Common,  on  the  corner  of 
the  road  to  the  Penny  Ferry  which  crossed  the 
Mystic  River  to  Everett,*  stood  the  home  of 
William  Barber,  sea  captain.  His  family  con 
sisted  of  his  wife,  Anne  Hay,  and  their  thirteen 
children.  One  of  them,  Edward,  fourteen  years 
old,  sat  at  the  window  looking  out  upon  the 
brilliant  pageant  of  marching  soldiers  in  the 
road.  Many  of  the  soldiers  must  have  seen 
him,  for  he  was  not  in  hiding.  One  did,  at  all 
events,  and  with  that  thirst  for  killing  some 
one,  even  though  but  a  boy,  shot  him  and  saw 
him  fall  back  into  the  room  dead.  Thus 
Edward  Barber  became  Charlestown's  martyr 
of  April  19th. 

While  Charlestown  did  not  officially  contrib 
ute  to  the  organized  minute-men  who  were 
pursuing  Percy,  yet  many  individuals  must  have 
been  in  the  American  ranks  on  that  day,  for  in 
the  afternoon  Gen.  Gage  wrote  to  James 
Russell  of  Charlestown  that  he  had  been  in 
formed  people  of  that  town  had  gone  out  armed 
to  oppose  His  Majesty's  Troops,  and  that  if  a 
single  man  more  went  out  armed,  the  most 
disagreeable  consequences  might  be  expected. 

*  Everett  was  then  a  part  of  Maiden. 


156         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

The  people  of  Charlestown  indeed  had  reason 
to  be  in  terror,  surrounded  as  they  were  by  the 
soldiers,  frenzied  with  their  disastrous  retreat 
from  Lexington.  The  Selectmen  arranged  with 
Percy  an  armistice,  agreeing  that  the  troops 
should  not  be  attacked,  and  that  assistance 
should  be  given  in  getting  them  across  the  ferry 
to  Boston,  provided  they  would  not  attack  the 
citizens  or  destroy  their  homes.  This  agree 
ment  seems  to  have  been  kept  in  good  faith  by 
both  parties.*  British  officers  walked  up  and 
down  the  streets,  directing  the  women  to  keep 
within  doors. 

Percy's  force  remained  on  Bunker  Hill  until 
arrangements  were  completed  for  their  trip 
across  the  Charles  River  to  Boston.  The 
wounded  were  sent  over  first,  being  conveyed 
by  the  boats  of  the  Somerset  man-of-war,  which 
still  lay  there,  as  it  did  when  Revere  crossed 
the  night  before. 

Gen.  Gage  sent  pickets  from  Boston,  selected 
from  the  Tenth  and  Sixty-fourth  Regiments  to 
do  guard  duty  in  Charlestown. f 

Gen.  William  Heath,  as  commander  of  the 
American  forces,  assembled  the  officers  of  the 
minute-men  at  the  foot  of  Prospect  Hill,  in 
Somerville,  for  a  Council  of  War.  Then  he 
ordered  the  formation  of  a  guard  to  be  posted 
near,  and  sentinels  along  the  road  now  known 
as  Washington  Street  in  Somerville,  and  Cam 
bridge  Street  in  Charlestown,  to  Charlestown 
Neck.  The  remainder  of  the  force  was  ordered 
back  to  Cambridge,!  which  place  was  to  be  for 
a  while  the  Headquarters  of  the  American  Army. 

*  De  Bernicre's  Report. 

t  De  Bernicre,  and  Diary  of  a  British  Officer  in  Boston  in  1775. 

J  Heath's  Memoirs. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19    1775.          157 

AMERICAN    KILLED,    WOUNDED    AND 
MISSING. 

Acton,  Killed:  Capt.  Isaac  Davis,  James  Hay- 
ward,  Abner  Hosmer.  Wounded:  Luther 
Blanchard  and  Ezekiel  Davis. 

Arlington.  Killed:  Jason  Russell,  Jason  Win- 
ship,  Jabez  Wyman.  Wounded:  Samuel 
Whittemore. 

Bedford.  Killed:  Captain  Jonathan  Willson. 
Wounded:  Job  Lane. 

Beverly.  Killed:  Reuben  Kennison.  Wounded: 
Nathaniel  Cleaves,  William  Dodge,  3rd, 
Samuel  Woodbury. 

Billerica.  Wounded:  Timothy  Blanchard,  John 
Nichols. 

Brookline.     Killed:  Major  Isaac  Gardner. 

Cambridge.  Killed :  John  Hicks,  William  Marcy, 
Moses  Richardson.  Missing:  Samuel  Frost, 
Seth  Russell. 

Concord.  Wounded:  Capt.  Nathan  Barrett,. 
Jonas  Brown,  Capt.  Charles  Miles,  Capt. 
George  Minot,  Abel  Prescott,  Jr. 

Charlestown.     Killed:  Edward  Barber. 

Chelmsford.  Wounded:  Oliver  Barren,  Aaron 
Chamberlain. 

Danvers.  Killed:  Samuel  Cook,  Benjamin 
Daland,  Ebenezer  Goldthwait,  Henry  Jacobs, 
Perley  Putnam,  George  Southwick,  Jotham 
Webb.  Wounded:  Nathan  Putnam,  Denni- 
son  Wallis.  Missing:  Joseph  Bell. 

Dedham.  Killed:  Elias  Haven.  Wounded:  Is 
rael  Everett. 

Framingham.     W7ounded:    Daniel  Hemenway. 


158         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

Lexington.  Killed:  John  Brown,  Samuel  Had- 
ley,  Caleb  Harrington,  Jonathan  Harrington, 
Jr.,  Jedediah  Munroe,  Robert  Munroe,  Isaac 
Muzzy,  Jonas  Parker,  John  Raymond,  Na 
thaniel  Wyman.  Wounded:  Francis  Brown, 
Joseph  Comee,  Prince  Estabrook,  Nathaniel 
Farmer,  Ebenezer  Munroe,  Jr.,  Jedediah 
Munroe  (killed  later),  Solomon  Pierce,  John 
Robbins,  John  Tidd,  Thomas  Winship. 

Lincoln.     Wounded:  Joshua  Brooks. 

Lynn.  Killed:  William  Flint,  Thomas  Hadley, 
Abednego  Ramsdell,  Daniel  Townsend. 
Wounded:  Joshua  Felt,  Timothy  Monroe. 
Missing:  Josiah  Breed. 

Medford.  Killed:  William  Polly,  Henry  Put 
nam. 

Needham.  Killed:  Lieut.  John  Bacon,  Nathaniel 
Chamberlain,  Amos  Mills,  Sergt.  Elisha  Mills, 
Jonathan  Parker.  Wounded :  Eleazer  Kings- 
bury,—  —  Tolman  (son  of  Dr.  Tolman). 

Newton.     Wounded:  Noah  Wiswell. 

Roxbury.     Missing:  Elijah  Seaver. 

Salem.     Killed:  Benjamin  Pierce. 

Somerville.     Killed:  James  Miller. 

Sudbury.  Killed:  Josiah  Haynes,  Asahel  Reed. 
Wounded:  Joshua  Haynes,  Jr. 

Stow.     Wounded:  Daniel  Conant. 

Watertown.     Killed:  Joseph  Coolidge. 

Woburn.  Killed:  Asahel  Porter,  Daniel  Thomp 
son.  Wounded:  Jacob  Bacon,  -  John 
son,  George  Reed. 

Totals.  Killed:  49.  Wounded:  41.  Missing: 
5.  Total  loss:  95. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          159 

BRITISH    KILLED,  WOUNDED,  PRISON 
ERS  AND  MISSING.* 

" Return  of  the  Commission,  Non-Commis 
sion  Officers,  Drummers,  Rank  and  File, 
killed  and  wounded,  prisoners  and  missing, 
on  the  19th  of  April,  1775. 

"4th  or  King's  Own  Regiment,  Lieutenant 
Knight,  killed.  Lieutenant  Gould,  wounded 
and  prisoner.  3  Serjeants,  1  Drummer, 
wounded.  7  Rank  and  File,  killed,  21  wounded, 
8  missing. 

"5th  Regiment,  Lieutenant  Thomas  Baker, 
Lieutenant  William  Cox,  Lieutenant  Thomas 
Hawkshaw,  wounded.  5  Rank  and  File  killed. 
15  wounded,  1  missing. 

"10th  Regiment,  Lieutenant  Colonel  Francis 
Smith,  Captain  Lawrence  Parsons,  Lieutenant 
Wald.  Kelly,  Ensign  Jeremiah  Lester,  wounded. 
1  Rank  and  File  killed,  13  wounded,  1  missing. 

"18th  Regiment.  1  Rank  and  File  killed, 
4  wounded,  1  missing. 

"23rd  Regiment.  Lieutenant  Colonel  Bery 
Bernard,  wounded.  4  Rank  and  File  killed, 
26  wounded,  6  missing. 

"38th  Regiment.  Lieutenant  William  Suth 
erland,  wounded.  1  Sergeant  wounded.  4  Rank 
and  File  killed,  11  wounded. 

*  I  am  under  obligations  to  the  Military  Secretary  of  the  English 
War  Office  for  a  copy  of  the  official  returns  of    Gen  Gage  of  his 
losses  on  April  19,  1775,  accompanied  by  the  following: 
"WAR  OFFICE 

"The  Military  Secretary  begs  to  inform  Mr.  Frank  W.  Coburn 
with  reference  to  his  letter  of  the  27th  November  last,  addressed 
to  the  late  Commander  in  Chief,  that  the  only  information  avail 
able  on  the  subject  of  the  casualties  sustained  by  the  British  Troops 
during  the  action  at  Lexington  on  19th  April,  1775,  is  contained 
in  the  Lords'  Gazette  of  6-10  June,  1775,  an  extract  of  which  is 
enclosed. 

"MR.  FRANK  W.  COBURN,  "WAR  OFFICE, 

"Lexington,  Massachusetts."  "25th  Sept.,  1901." 


160         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

"43rd  Regiment.  Lieutenant  Hull,  wounded 
and  prisoner.  4  Rank  and  File  killed,  5  wounded, 

2  missing. 

"47th  Regiment.  Lieutenant  Donald  Mc- 
Cloud,  Ensign  Henry  Baldwin,  wounded. 

1  Sergeant  wounded.      5  Rank  and  File  killed, 
21  wounded. 

"52nd  Regiment.  1  Sergeant  missing.  3  Rank 
and  File  killed,  2  wounded. 

U59th  Regiment.       3  Rank  and  File  killed, 

3  wounded. 

"Marines.  Captain  Souter,  Second  Lieuten 
ant  McDonald,  wounded.  Second  Lieutenant 
Isaac  Potter,  missing.  1  Sergeant  killed, 

2  wounded,    1    missing.         1    Drummer   killed. 
25  Rank  and  File  killed,  36  wounded,  5  missing. 

"Total.  1  Lieutenant  killed.  2  Lieutenant 
Colonels  wounded.  2  Captains  wounded. 

9  Lieutenants  wounded.  1  Lieutenant  missing. 
2  Ensigns  wounded.  1  Sergeant  killed,  7 
wounded,  2  missing.  1  Drummer  killed. 

1  wounded.  62  Rank  and  File  killed,  157 
wounded,  24  missing. 

"N.  B.      Lieutenant  Isaac  Potter  reported  to 
be  wounded  and  taken  prisoner. 
"Signed 

"THO.  GAGE." 

Lieut.  Hull,  of  the  43rd  Regiment,  wounded 
traveling  in  a  chaise,  fell  behind  the  troops, 
again  wounded,  and  carried  into  the  house  of 
Samuel  Butterfield,  in  Arlington,  where  he 
died,  two  weeks  later.* 

The  forces  participating  were  about  eighteen 

*  Smith's  West  Cambridge  Address. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775.          161 

hundred  British,  well  organized  and  well  com 
manded,  opposed  by  about  thirty-seven  hundred 
and  sixty  Americans,  without  effective  organiza 
tion  and  without  a  real  commanding  officer. 


DISTANCES    MARCHED    BY  THE 
BRITISH  SOLDIERS. 

I  have  measured  the  routes  of  the  various 
detachments  and  am  enabled  to  give  them  as 
follows,  in  each  case  of  Smith's  force  from  the 
shore  of  Charles  River  in  Cambridge,  out  to 
Concord  and  back  to  the  shore  of  Charles  River 
in  Charlestown.  The  route  of  Percy's  force 
was  from  School  Street,  Boston,  out  through 
Roxbury,  etc.,  to  the  High  School  in  Lexington, 
and  return  to  the  shore  of  Charles  River,  in 
Charlestown.  My  cyclometer  is  divided  into 
eighty-eight  fractions  of  a  mile,  each  one  of 
sixty  feet. 

Three  companies  under  Capt.  Lawrence 
Parsons  to  the  home  of  Col.  Barrett,  beyond 
North  Bridge,  Concord,  39f  J  miles. 

Three  companies  under  Capt.  Walter  Sloane 
Lawrie  to  the  North  Bridge,  Concord,  36JJ  miles. 

Force  of  about  one  hundred  men  under  Capt. 
Mundy  Pole,  to  the  South  Bridge,  Concord, 
36ff  mile. 

Main  division  under  Lieut. -Col.  Smith,  to 
Concord  village,  34|f  miles. 

Earl  Percy's  reinforcement,  to  the  High 
School  in  Lexington,  25£j[*  miles. 

That  of  his  baggage  train  captured  and 
destroyed  in  Arlington,  11?|'  miles. 


162          THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,   1775. 

ENGLISH  FRIENDS  AFTER  THE 
BATTLE. 

As  in  the  beginning  of  this  little  history  we 
gratefully  chronicled  the  warm  and  sym 
pathetic  friendship  for  America  that  permeated 
the  British  nation,  and  particularly  the  councils 
of  Parliament,  so  as  we  close,  we  may  glance 
across  the  ocean  again  to  see  if  that  same 
friendship  can  survive  the  shock  of  rebellion 
against  the  King.  In  quarrels  of  a  family 
nature  one  does  not  feel  unpatriotic  if  he 
happens  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  minority. 
So  it  was  with  John  Home  Tooke.*  His 
intense  friendship  for  this  part  of  the  British 
Kingdom  was  evident  at  the  start  and  reached 
a  decided  climax  after  the  battle.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Constitutional  Society,  and 
during  an  adjournment  or  recess  of  a  meeting 
held  June  7th  proposed  that  a  subscription 
should  be  immediately  entered  into  "for  raising 
the  sum  of  one  hundred  pounds,  to  be  applied 
to  the  relief  of  the  widows,  orphans,  and  aged 
parents,  of  our  beloved  American  fellow- 
subjects,  who,  faithful  to  the  character  of 
Englishmen,  preferring  death  to  slavery,  were, 
for  that  reason  only,  inhumanly  murdered  by 
the  King's  troops  at  or  near  Lexington  and 
Concord."  The  money  was  raised  and  placed 
at  the  disposal  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  to  dis 
tribute  in  accordance  with  its  purpose.  The 
resolution  was  forwarded  to  several  newspapers, 
and  its  publication  naturally  aroused  consider 
able  surprise  and  painful  comment. 

Mr.    Home   was   arrested   and    tried   for   "a 


*  At  that  time  his  name  was  simply  John  Home. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  177S.          163 

false,  wicked,  malicious,  scandalous  and  seditious 
libel  of,  and  concerning,  his  said  Majesty's 
government,  and  the  employment  of  his  troops," 
etc.*  He  was  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  a 
fine  of  £200;  to  be  imprisoned  for  twelve 
months;  and  that  he  find  securities  in  £800  for 
his  good  behavior,  for  three  years,  f 

I  have  not  read  of  any  other  Briton  punished 
to  that  extent  at  that  time,  for  friendship  for 
his  fellow  subjects  on  this  side  of  the  ocean. 
There  were  many  as  sincere  and  devoted  to  the 
cause  of  the  colonists  as  Home,  and  perhaps 
as  openly,  too,  but  he  happened  to  be  the  one 
selected  to  bear  the  heavy  burden  of  his  King's 
displeasure. 

On  a  much  larger  and  more  impressive  scale 
was  the  petition  of  the  Lord  Mayor,  Aldermen, 
and  Commons,  of  the  City  of  London,  in 
Common  Council  assembled,  to  the  Lords 
Spiritual  and  Temporal  in  Parliament  as 
sembled.  It  was  presented  in  October,  and 
recited  how  that  body  had  "taken  into  the  most 
serious  consideration  the  present  distressed 
situation  of  our  fellow  subjects  in  America," 
and  concluded  with  the  prayer  that  the  House 
would  be  "pleased  to  adopt  such  measures  for 
the  healing  of  the  present  unhappy  disputes 
between  the  mother  country  and  the  colonies, 
as  may  be  speedy,  permanent  and  honourable." 

But  the  wise  counsels  of  the  great  city  did 
not  prevail  in  the  House  of  Parliament,  for  that 


*  "The  Battle  of  Lexington  as  looked  at  in  London  before  Chief 
Justice  Mansfield  and  a  jury  in  the  Trial  of  John  Home,  Esq.  By 
John  Winslow." 

t  See  Memoirs  of  John  Home  Tooke,  by  Alexander  Stephens, 
London,  1813.  Vol.  I,  page  431,  etc. 


164         THE  BATTLE  OF  APRIL  19,  1775. 

body  simply  ordered  their  petition  to  "lie  upon 
the  table."* 

So  was  fought  the  opening  battle  of  the 
American  Revolution,  the  beginning  of  that 
long  struggle  which  rent  in  twain  the  great 
English  nation,  and  gave  birth  to  these  United 
States. 


*  Parliamentary  History  of  England,  XVIII,  column  698. 


END. 


INDEX. 


Acton,  alarm  in,  40 

Killed  and  wounded,  157 

Men  of,  81 

Abbott,  Lieut.  Moses,  81 
Adams  children,  138 

Hannah,  removed  from  her 
home,  125 

Home,  141 

Joel.  138 

Deacon  Joseph,  137,  home  set 
on  fire  and  looted,  137  ;  138 

Mrs.  Joseph,  137 

Samuel.  17;  18;  21;  25;  29;  30,  31; 

34;  36 

Adan.  John  R..  note,  23 
Alarm  in  other  places,  32 
Allen,  the  one-handed  peddler, 

28 

Americans  killed  and  wounded, 
157 

Number  of,  engaged,  161 
Andover ,  alarm  in ,  34 
Arlington,  battle  in,  130 

Killed  and  wounded  of,  157 

Men  of ,  134 

Smith's  advance  through,  51 

Percy's  retreat  through,  130 
Aspinwall,  Capt.  Thomas,  133 

Bacheller,  Capt.  John,  96 
Bacon,  Jacob,  158 

Lieut.,  John.  143;  158 
Baggage  wagons  of  Percy  cap 
tured,  119 

Length  of  their  route,  161 
Baker,  Lieut.  Thomas,  of  the  5th 

Regt.,  112;  128;  159 
Baldwin.  Ensign  Henry,  of  the 
47th  Regt.,  112;  128;  160 

Col,    Loammi.  33;  112 
Ballard,  John,  17 
Bancroft,  Capt.  Nathaniel,  134 
Barber,  Mrs.  Anne  Hay,  155 

William,  home  of,  155 

Edward,  125:  155;  157 
Barker,  Francis,  42 
Barnard,  Capt.  Samuel,  134 
Barrett.  Corporal  Amos,  39 

Col.  James,  42;  76;  80;  81;  82;  83; 
86;  87;  88;  161 

Mrs.  James,  87;  88 

James,  Jr.,  87 

Capt.  Nathan.  73;  80;  157 

Samuel,  78 

Stephen,  87 

Deacon  Thomas,  78 


Barron,  Capt.  Oliver.  43;  96;  157 
Bates,  Capt.  Oliver.  97 
Bathericke,  Mother,  119 
Battle,  Capt.  Eben.  134 
Beaton,  John,  93 
Bedford,  alarm  in,  37 
Killed  and  wounded,  157 
Men  of,  37 

Belfry,  the  Old,  in  Lexington,  61 
Belknap,  Jason,  119 
Joe, 119 

Capt.  Samuel,  97 
Bell.  Joseph,  157 
Bentley,  Joshua,  22 
Berkshire  County  Convention,  14 
Bernard,  Lieut.-Col.  Bery,  159 
Beverly,  killed  and  wounded. 

157 

Men  of.  134 

Bigelow,  Capt.  Timothy,  46 
Billerica,  alarm  in.  39 
Men  of.  96 
Wounded,  157 

Black  Horse  Tavern  (see  also 
Wetherby's  Tavern).  18;  36; 
51;52 
Blanchard,  Luther.  42;  83;  84;  99; 

157 

Timothy,  157 

Blaney,  Capt.  Benjamin.  134 
Bliss.  Mr.,  9 

Mr.  (tory),  16 
Bloody  Angle  in  Lincoln ,  battle 

at, 101;  105 
Bond,  Joshua,  house  and  shop  of. 

burned,  126 
Boston  Massacre,  2 
Boston  Port  Bill,  2 
Boston,  start  of  Percy  from,  114 

Start  of  Smith  from,  19 
Bowman,  Lieut  Solomon,  53;  54; 

145 
Capt.  Thaddeus.  note  35;  37;  58; 

61 
Boynton,  Thomas,  Journal  of, 

note  34 

Breed,  Joshua,  158 
British  Forces,  13 
Killed,    wounded,     prisoners 

and  missing,  159 
Number  of  engaged,  160 
Prisoners,  first  ones  captured, 

71 

Start  for  Lexington  and  Con 
cord,  19 


166 


INDEX. 


Brookline.  killed,  157 

Men  of.  133 
Brooks,  Major  John,  96 

Joshua,  84;  99;  158 

Tavern  ,98;  102 
Brown,  Deacon  Benjamin,  71 

Capt.  David,  39;  40;  74;  80;  83 

Francis,  158 

John,  60;  70;  158 

Jonas.  99. 157 

Jonathan, 40 

Reuben,  93 

Solomon,  18;  27;  28;  34;  35;  36; 
67:68 

Widow,  her  Tavern,  42;  88 
Bryant,  Albert  W..  note,  35 
Buckman,  John,  67 

Tavern,  30;  31;  36;  37;  60;  61;  62; 

67;  68;  71;  111 
Budge,  James,  119 
Bullard's  Bridge,  47;  48 
Bullet  found  in  Lexington,  106 
Bull's  Tavern,  72;  106 
Burgoyne.  Gen.  John,  4 
Butterfield,  Jonathan,  138 

Samuel,  home  of,  160 
Buttrick,  Major  John,  81;  82;  84; 
85;9l 

John  (fifer),  83 

Cambridge,  battle  of,  145 

Burial  of  the  patriot  dead  of, 
149 

Killed  and  missing,  157 

Men  of,  104. 

Percy's  retreat  through,  145 

Smith  lands  at,  20;    advances 

through,  47;  50 
Camden,  Lord.  4 
Cannon,  carriages  of,  burned, 
92;  94 

Percy's  opening  bombardment 
in  Lexington,  122;  123 

Trunnions  knocked  off,  92;  94 
Capen  house,  49 
Chamberlain,  Aaron,  157 

Nathaniel,  143;  153 
Charlestown,  battle  in,  154 

Killed,  157 

Percy's  arrival  in,  154 

Selectmen  arrange  an  armis 
tice  with  Percy,  156 
Chatham,  Lord,  4 
Cheever,  David,  51 
Chelmsford.  alarm  in,  43 

Men  of,  96 

Wounded,  157 
"Cheevy  Chase,"  115 
Child,  Capt.  Lemuel,  44;  134 
Choate  house,  in  Somerville,  49 
Christ  Church  (Old  North)  in  I 

Boston,  23 


Clarke,  Miss  Elizabeth,  letter  of, 
note,  113 

Rev.  Jonas,  25;  34;  36;  113 

Jonas,  son  of  Rev.  Jonas.  30 
Clark,  Capt.  Thomas,  40 
Cleaves,  Nathaniel.  144;  157 
Coburn,  Capt.  Peter,  44 
Concord,  alarm  in,  39 

Battle  of,  78 

Court  House  saved,  95 

Damages  in,  95 

Men  of,  81 

Smith's  advance  into,  73 

Smith's  retreat  from  95 

Wounded,  157 

Comee.  Joseph,  62:  66;  67:  70;  158 
Committee  of  Safety,  9;  10;  11;  12; 
18;  51:  128 

Supplies,  10;  11;  12;  18;  51 
Conant,  Col.,  21;  24 

Daniel,  158 
Congress,  First,  Continental,  3 

First,  Provincial,  3,  5 
Its  limited  power,  6;  7 

Second,  Provincial,  7;  11 
Cook.  Capt.  Phinehas.  130 

Rev.  Mr.  120;  137 

Samuel.  143;  157 
Cooper,  Benjamin,  142;  143 

Rachel,  142;  143 

Tavern,  25:  142;  143 
Coolidge,  Jacob.  144 

Joseph.  158 
Council  of  War  in  Concord,  80;  81 

In  Somerville,  156 
Court  House  in  Concord  saved, 

95 

Cox,  Lieut.,  of  the  5th  Regt.,  112; 
128;  159 

William,  one  of  the  Boston  Tea 

Party,  note,  2 
Crosby,  Lieut.  96 
Cudworth,  Capt.  Nathan,  96 
Cumings,  Dr.,  93 
Cutler,  Mr.,  136 

Rebecca.  136 
Cutter,  Ammi,  119;  121;  139 

Daland,  Benjamin,  143,  157 

Damages  in  Concord,  95 

Damages  in  Lexington,  viz., 
Bond's  126;  Loring's,  124; 
Mason's,  128;  Mead's,  124; 
Meeting  House,  112:  123; 
Merriam's,  124;  Mulliken's. 
126;  Munroe's,  127;  Sander 
son's,  127.  Total,  128 

Damages  in  Somerville,  viz.,. 
Miller's,  153;  Abigal  Shed. 
154;  Ebenezer  Shed,  154 


INDEX. 


167 


Danvers,  alarm  in,  34 
Killed,  wounded  and  missing, 

157 

Men  of,  134 

Davis,  Ezekiel,  84;  99;  157 
Capt.  Isaac,  41:  42;  43:  80,  81;  82; 

83;84;91;  99;  157 
Dawes,  William,  18;  20;  21;  25;  26; 

27;  44 
DeBernicre,  Ensign,  16;  75;  76;  86; 

89;  94;  109;  130 
Dedham,  alarm  in,  44 
Killed  and  wounded,  157 
Men  of,  134 
Des  Barres's  Map  of  Boston  and 

Vicinity,  note,  48 
Devens.  Richard,  12;  24;  26;  51;  52 
Dimond.  William,  58;  61 
Distances  marched  by  the  Brit 
ish  soldiers,  16 
Dodge,  Capt.  Caleb,  134 
William,  3rd.  144;  157 
Douglass,  Robert,  33;  61 
Downer.  Dr.,  136 
Dracut,  alarm  in,  43 

Men  of,  44 

Draper,  Capt.  Daniel,  134 
Capt.  William,  44;  134 

Ears,  cutting  off  of,  charged  to 

Americans,  89 
Eaton,  Capt.  Thomas,  96 
Edgett,  Capt.  Simon,  45;  96 
Ellis,  Capt.  William,  134 
Emerson,  Rev.  William,  39;  89 
Emes,  Capt.  Jesse,  96 
English  friends  after  the  battle, 

162 
English  War  Office,  letter  from 

the    Military    Secretary   of, 

note,  159 

Epes,  Capt.  Samuel.  134 
Estabrook,  Prince,  70;  158 
Everett,  Israel.  144;  157 

Fairbanks,  Capt.  David,  134 
Farmer,  Capt.  Edward,  96 

Nathaniel.  70;  158 
Farrington,  Capt.  William,  134 
Faulkner,  Col.  Fraucis,  41 

Francis,  Jr.,  41 
Felt,  Joshua,  158 
Fiske,  Benjamin,  home  of,  108 
Fiske  Hill  in  Lexington,  fight 
ing  near,  lOo 

Fitch,  Nathan,  Jr.,  Tavern  of,  38 
Flight  of  Hancock  and  Adams, 

30 

Flour  in  Concord  destroyed,  92; 
94 


Flint,  Capt.  John,  96 

Capt.  Samuel,  134 

William,  143;  158 
Forces    of    the    Americans   and 

British  compared,  160 
Foster,  Rev.  Edmund,  33;  % 
Fox,  Capt.  Jonathan,  97 
Framingham,  alarm  in,  45 

Men  of,  96 

Wounded,  157 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  162 
Friends,  English,  after  the 

battle,  162 
Frost,  Capt.  Ephraim,  120 

House  in  Somerville,  49 

Samuel,  157 
Fuller.  Capt.  Aaron,  134 

Capt.  Amariah,  130 

Gage,  Gen.  Thomas,  5;  6;  8;  13; 

14;  15;  16;    17;   18;    34;  54;    75; 

94;  114;  115;  146;  149;  155;  156; 

160 

Gardner,  Henry,  note,  7 
Major  Isaac,  133;  147;  157 
Col.  Thomas,  51 

Gerry,  Elbridge,  18;  36;  51;  52;  53 
Gleason,  Capt.  Micajab,  96 
Goddard,  Mrs.  Mehitable  Gay, 

27 

Goldthwaite,  Ebenezer,  143;  157 
Goodridge,  Capt.,  11 
Gordon,  Rev.  William,  note,  16 
Gould,  lyieut.  Edward  Thornton, 

of    the  4th   or   King's  Own 

Regt.,85;99;  121;  159 
Gould,  Capt.  George,  134 
Great  Fields  in  Concord,  101 
Great  Meadows  in  Concord,  96 
Greaton  Family,  note,  44 
Guild,  Capt.  Joseph,  134 
Gun     carriages      in      Concord 

burned,  87 

Hadley,  Samuel,  68;  158 

Thomas,  143;  158 
Hall,  Capt.  Isaac,  25;  134 

Mrs.  Thomas,  note,  138 
Hancock,  John,  6;  8;   10;  17;  18; 
21;  25;  29;  30;  34;  36;  52 

Mrs.,  30 

Handley,  Charles,  88 
Hapgood,  Capt.  97 
Hardy's  Hill,  fight  at,  98 
Harrington,  Caleb,  62;  66;  67;  68; 
70;  158 

David,  50;  66 

Jonathan,  Jr.,  66;  68;  70;  158 

Thaddeus,  note,  37 


168 


INDEX. 


Hartwell  houses  in  Lincoln,  102 

Sergt.  John.  102 

Sergt.  Samuel,  102 

Mrs.  Samuel,  102 
Harvard   College,   Percy's   con 
templated     destruction    of, 
116,  149 

Hastings,  Samuel,  104 
Hatchet,    British  soldier  killed 

with  a.  89 

Haven,  EHas,  143;  157 
Hawkshaw,  Lieut.  Thomas,  of 

the  5th  Regt..  112;  128;  159 
Haynes,  Capt.  Aaron,  96 

Deacon  Josiah.  112;  158 

Joshua,  Jr.,  158 
Hayward.  James,  108, 112,  157 

Lieut.,  93 
Hicks,  John,  148;  157 

Mrs.  John.  148 

Son  of  John,  148 
Hill.  Mrs.  James,  note,  138 
Heath,  Gen.  William,  11;  14;  51; 

128;  132;  135;  156 
Hemenway,  Daniel.  157 
Home,  John,  162;  163 
Hosmer.  Abner.  84;  91;  99;  157 

Adjutant  Joseph,  80,  91 
Hubbard,  Ebenezer.  77 
Hull,  Lieut.,  of  the  43rd  Regt., 

85;  99;  160 

Hunnewell  brothers,  49 
Hunt,  Capt.  Simon,  41;  81;  83 
Hutchinson,  Capt.  Israel,  134 

Thomas,  13 

Indians  of  Stockbridge,  11 
Ireland,  Jonathan,  49 

Jacobs,  Henry,  143;  157 
Jasper,  Mr.,  gunsmith,  17 
Johnson,  Mr.,  158 
Jones.  Elisha,  house  of,  85;  90 

Madame,  30 
Jones  Tavern, 16 
Jones,  Rev.  Thomas,  30 

Kelly,  Lieut.  Waldo  of  the  10th 

Regt.,  85;  99;  159 
Kennison.  Reuben,  143;  157 
Kent,  Samuel,  49 
Killed,  wounded  and  missing, 

Americans,  157 
Killed,  wounded  and  missing, 

British,  159 
Kingsbury,  Capt.  Caleb,  134 

Eleazer, 144;  158 
Knight,  Lieut.,  159 

Latnson,  David.  119 
Lane,  Job,  102;  105;  157 
Lanterns,  signal,  23 


Larkin.  Deacon.  24,  note.  25 
Lawrie,  Capt.  Walter  Sloane,  of 

the  43rd  Regt.,  76,  85.  161 
Lechmere  Point,  Smith  lands  at, 

20;  47;  48;  74 

Lee,  Col.  Charles,  18;  51;  52;  53 
Lee's  Hill,  Concord,  77:  82 
Lester.  Ensign  Jeremiah,  of  the 

10th  Regt.,  98.  99;  159 
Lexington,  alarm  in.  34 

Battle  of,  57 

Burial  of  the  slain,  113 

Damages,  128 

Killed  and  wounded,  158 

Men  of,  58 

Meeting  house  bombarded  by 
Percy, 112 

Smith's  advance  through,  57 

Smith's  retreat  to  Lexington 

Village,  105 

Liberty  pole  in  Concord,  74 
Lincoln,  Col.  Benjamin,  51 
Lincoln,  alarm  in,  38 

Men  of,  81 

Wounded,  158 

Smith's  advance  through,  72 

Smith's  retreat  through,  99 
Littleton,  alarm  in,  44 
Locke,  Capt.  Benjamin.  56,  134 
Locker,  Capt.  Isaac,  96 
London,  City  of,  3 

Petition  to  Parliament,  163 
Long  Room  Club,  15 
Loring,  Jonathan,  18;  28;  36 

Deacon  Joseph,  123;  his  loss,  124 
Lowe,  Capt.  Caleb.  134 
Lowell.  Mr..  30;  31 
Lynn,  alarm  in.  32 

Killed,  wounded  and  missing, 
158 

Men  of ,  134 

McDonald,  Second  Lieutenant, 

160 
McCloud,  Lt.  Donald,  of  the  47th 

Regt.,  112;  128;  160 
Maiden,  men  of,  134 
Mansfield,  Capt.  Rufus,  134 
Marcy,  William,  125;  148;  149;  157 
Mark,  the  negro  slave,  24 
Marrett,  Rev.  Mr..  30:  31 
Mason,    John,    127;      home    of, 

looted,  198 

Mead  home,  looted.  124 
Mead,  Israel,  119 
Mrs.  Matthew,  35,36 
Rhodes.  35 
Medford,  killed,  158 

Men  of.  134 
Meeting    house    in     Lexington, 

bombarded  by  Percy,  122 


INDEX. 


169 


Menotomy.  men  of,  134 
Meriam's  Corner,  fight  at,  96 
Merriam.  Benjamin,    home    of, 

looted,  124 

Messengers  of  alarm,  20 
Middle  District  Caucus,  15 
Middlesex  County  convention.  14 
Miles,  Capt.  Charles,  80;  83;  157 
Miller,  James,  153;  158 
Miller's  River,  48 
Mills,  Amos,  143;  158 

Serfft.  EHsha,  144;  158 
Minot,  Capt.  George.  39;  40;  73; 
80;  157 

Dr..  93 

Capt.  Jonathan,  97 
Military  Act,  2 
Mitchell,  Major,  28;  29 
Mohawks,  Chief  of  the,  11 
Monroe,  Timothy,  158 
Moore,  Capt.  John,  81 

Mrs.,  48 

Mothskin,  Johoiakin,  11 
Moulton,  Martha.  95 
Mount  Vernon,    in    I^exington, 

122;  123;  128 
Mulliken,  John,  126 

I^ydia.  house  of,  burned,  126; 
her  loss,  126 

Miss,  26 

Munroe  Avenue,  suggested  as  a 
substitute  name  for  Percy 
Road,  note,  125 

Anna,  66 

Ebenezer,  Jr..  65;  70;  71;  158 

Jedediah,  70;  130;  158 

John,  65 

Marrett,  house  of,  67 

Nathan,  37;  38 

Ensign  Robert,  66;  68;  158 

Sergt.  William,  18;  25;  35;  36; 

note,  37;  62;  72;  127 
Munroe  Tavern,  122,  126 
Musket  balls  thrown  into  the 

river.  94 
Muzzy,  Isaac,  68;  158 

Needham,  killed  and  wounded, 
158 

Men  of.  134 
Nelson,  Josiah,  38;  103 
Newhall,  Capt.  Ezra,  134 
Newman,  Robert,  23 
Newton,  alarm  in,  45 

Men  of ,  130 

Wounded,  158 
Nichols,  John,  157 
Nixon,  Capt.  John,  45;  96;  112 
North  Bridge,  Concord,  75 

Battle  at,  78;  80 

Occupied  by  the  British,  76 


North    Church,    Old   North,    or 
Christ  Church,  in  Boston,  23 
North  End  Caucus,  15 
North,  I,ord.  4 

Old  Belfry,  in  Lexington.  61 
Old  Manse,  in  Concord,  89 
Orne.  Col.  Azor,  18;  51;  52;  53 

Page.  Capt.  Jeremiah,  134 
Parker.  Capt.  David,  134 
Elizabeths.,  60 
Capt.  John,  18;  31;  37;  38;  58;  60; 

61;  62;  63;  64;  66;  67;  71;  82;  101; 

104;  105;  110;  124;  127 
Jonas,  65;  70;  158 
Jonathan,  144;  158 
Capt.  Joshua,  97 
Capt.  Moses.  43;  96 
Rev.  Theodore,  60 
Palmer,  Col.  Joseph,  51 
Parliament.  1;  163 
Parsons,  Capt.  I^awrence,  of  the 

10th  Regt. ,76;  86;  87;  89;  159; 

161 

Paterson,  Col.,  11 
Payson.  Rev.  Phillips,  A.  M..  119 
Peirce,  Benjamin.  144 
Pelham's  map  of  Boston  and  vi 
cinity,  note,  48 
Pepperell,  alarm  in,  44 
Percy,    Earl,    Acting   Brigadier 

General,  94;  111;  114;  115;  116; 

117;  119;  120:  121;  122; 123;  124; 

125;  126;  128;  129;  130;  132;  133; 

135;  137;  138;  140;  143;  145;  146; 

147;  149;  150;  152;  153;  154;  155; 

156;  161 
"Percy   Road,"   note,    125;    126. 

Change  to  Munroe  Avenue 

suggested,  note.  125 
Phip's  Farm,  19 
Pickering.  Col.  Timothy,  155 
Pierce,  Benjamin,  158 

Solomon.  70;  158 
Pigeon,  John,  11;  45;  51 
Piper's  Tavern,  48 
Pistols  of  Major  John  Pitcairn. 

note,  107 
Pitcairn,  Major  John,  13;  19;  54; 

58;  63;  64;  67;  69;  75;  104;  107; 

114;  115 

Plympton,  Thomas,  45 
Pole.  Capt.  Mundy,  of  the  10th 

Regt..  76;  91;  92;  94;  161 
Pole,  William,  143;  158 
Pomeroy.  Col.  Seth,  11 
Porter,  Asahel,  56;  57;  68;  70;  158 
Potter,  Second  Ueut.  Isaac.  113; 

128;  160 


170 


INDEX, 


Powder,  thrown  into  the  river,  94 
Preble,  Jedidiah,  10;  11 
Prentiss,  George.  139 
Prescott,  Abel,  Jr.,  99;  157 

Gen.,  44 

Dr.  Samuel,  25;  26;  27;  39 
Price  Plain,  87 
Prince,  Capt.  Asa,  134 
Prisoners,  first  American  that 

were  captured,  50 
Pulling,  Capt.  John  Jr.,  22;  23 
Punkatasset  Hill,  40;  43;  75;  80 
Putnam,  Capt.  Edm.,  134 

Henry,  143, 158 

Capt.  John,  134 

Mrs.  John  P.,  presents  Pit- 
cairn's  pistols  to  the  town 
of  Lexington,  note  107 

Nathan.  144;  157 

Perley.  143;  157 

Quincy.  Dorothy,  30 

Ramsdell,  Abednego.  143;  158 
Rand,  the  widow,  49 
Raymond,  John,  125;  127;  130;  132 

158 
Reading,  alarm  in,  33 

Men  of,  96 
Reed,  Asahel,  158 

George,  158 

James,  71;  72 

Joshua,  71 

Mr.,  30 

Thaddeus,  110 

Revere,  Paul,  15;  19;  20;  21;  22;  24; 
25-  26;  27;  28;  29;  30;  31;  32;  37; 
39;  52;  60 
Richardson.  Josiah,  56;  57;  68 

Moses,  148:  149: 157 

Thomas,  22 
Robbins  home,  136 

John,  70;  158 
Robins,  Capt.  Joseph,  81 

Thomas,  50 

Robinson,  Lieut.-Col.  John,  82 
Roxbury,  alarm  in,  44 

Men  of,  134 

Missing,  158 
Russell,  Anna.  144. 
Russell    House,    Lexington,  36; 
124 

James,  155 

Jason,  139;  home  looted,  140; 
143;  157 

Seth.157 

Capt.  Stephen,  44 

Salem,  killed,  158 
Men  of,  155 


Sanderson.  Elijah,  18;  28;  36 
Samuel,    127;    killing    of    his. 

cow,  127 

Sandwich,  Earl  of,  5 
Scalping,  charged  to  the  Ameri 
cans,  89 

Seaver,  Elijah,  158 
Sentinels,  first  posting  of  Ameri 
can,  156 

Shaw,  Capt.  Peter,  134 
Shed,  Abigal,  widow  of,  154 
Ebenezer,  154 
Samuel,  house  of,  152 
Shattuck,  Col.  Daniel,  33 
Sibley,  Rev.  J.  L-,  48 
Silver  Tankard  of  the  Commun 
ion  Service  belonging  to  the 
Church  in  Menotomy  stolen, 
138 

Simonds,  Joshua.  62;  66;  71 
Smith,  Capt.  Aaron,  134 

Lieut.-Col.  Francis,  19;  47;  48; 
50;  51;  57;  69;  72;  73;  75;  76;  85; 
91;  92;  93;  94;  95;  99;  105; 
wounded,  106;  109;  110;  113; 
115;  117;  121;  123;  126;  128;  129; 
146;  159;  161 
Isaac, 117 

Capt.  Joseph,  97;  103 
Capt.  Robert,  134 
Solomon,  84 
Capt.  William,  81;  83 
Somerset,  man-of-war,  17;  22;  23 
Somerville,  battle  of ,  150 
Council  of  war  ill,  156 
Killed,  158 

Percy's  retreat  through,  150 
Smith's  advance  through,  48 
Sons  of  Liberty,  15:  20 
Souter,  Capt.,  of    the    Marines, 

113;  128;  160 

South  Bridge,  Concord,  76;  91;  92 
South  End  Caucus,  15 
South  wick,  George,  143;  157 
Spring  Valley,  119;  120 
Spy  Pond,  119;  120 
Stamp  Act,  1;  repealed,  2 
Stedman,  Capt.,  11;  33 
Stickney,  Capt.  Jonathan,  96 
Stone,  Capt.  Moses,  97 
Stow,  men  of,  97 
Wounded,  158 
Sudbury,  alarm  in,  45 
Killed  and  wounded,  158 
Men  of,  96 
Sutherland,   Lieut.,  of  the  38th 

Regt.,  85:  99;  159 

Sword    of    slain    British    officer 
found,  106 

Tanner's  brook,  99 
Tea,  tax  on,  2 


INDEX. 


171 


Tewksbury,  alarm  in,  40 
Thatcher,  Capt.  Samuel,  105;  146 
Thompson,  Daniel,  101,  105;  158 
Thorndike,  Capt.  Ivarkin,  134 
Thorningr,  William,  103 
Tidd.  Benjamin,  37;  38 

John,  158 

I,ieut.  William.  66;  67;  70 
Tolman,  son  of  Dr.  Tolman,  1 44. 

158 

Tooke,  John  Home,  162 
Townsend,  Daniel,  143;  158 
Treaty  of  Peace,  Feb.  10,  1763,  1 
Trenchers  destroyed,  92 
Trull.  Capt.  John,  40,  43 
Tufts,  Dr.,  142 

John,  136 

Mr.,  55 

Mrs.  Rebecca,  136 

Samuel,  49 
Tufts  Tavern.  55;  136;  looted  and 

set  on  fire,  137 
Tufts,  Timothy,  50;  150 

Mrs.  Timothy,  50 

Varnum,  Gen. ,40;  43 
Viles  Tavern,  72;  106 

Walker,  Capt.  Joshua,  97 
Wallace,  Dennison,  144;  157 
Walton,  Capt.  John,  96 
Ward,  Artemas,  10i  11 
Warren,  Dr.  Joseph,  17;  20;  21;  22; 

118;  128:  135;  136 
Washington,  George,  3 
Waters,  Col..  17 
Water  town,  killed,  158 

Men  of,  134 
Watson,  Abraham,  51 

Jacob,  home  of,  147 
Webb,  Jotham,  143;  157 
Wellington,  Benjamin,  58 


Welsh,  E.,  72 

Mr.,  72 

Dr.  Thomas,  118 
Westford,  men  of,  97 
Wetherby's  Tavern,  18;  51  (See 

also  Black  Horse  Tavern.) 
Wheeler,  Timothy,  77 
Whitcomb,  Capt.  William,  97 
White,  Capt.  Begjamin,  51 

Capt.  Thomas,  133 
"  White  Cockade."  42,  83 
Whiting,  Capt.  Moses,  44;  134 
Whittemore.  Samuel.  51;  141;  142; 
144;  147;  157 

Mrs.  Samuel,  141;  142 
Wilkes,  T^ord  Mayor  of  Condon, 

3 

Willard,  Thomas  R.,  72 
Willis  Creek,  47;  48 
Willson,  Capt.  Jonathan.   38;  81; 

101;  105;  157 
Winship,  Jason;  142;  143;  147;  157 

Son  of  Jason, 144 

Simon.  57 

Thomas.  70;  158 
Wiswell,  Capt.  Jeremiah,  130 

Noah,  158 
Woburn,  alarm  in,  33 

Killed  and  wounded.  158 

Men  of,  97 
Wood,  Amos,  77;  91 

Kphraim,  77;  91 

Sylvanus,  33.  61;  62;  71 
Wood  bury,  Samuel,  144;  157 
Wooden  spoons  destroyed,  92 
Worcester,  alarm  in,  45 
Worcester  County  convention,  14 
Wyman,  Amos,  31 

Jabez,  142;  143;  147;  157 

Nathaniel,  101;  105;  158 
Wright's  Tavern,  75;  93 
"  Yankee  Doodle."  115 


